


Requiem

by Mastia, MystiTrinqua



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkwardness, College Student Eren Yeager, Confessions, Easily Startled Eren, Eren is Impulsive, Falling In Love, Fluff, Grisha Is not Abusive, Human Eren Yeager, Kissing, Love, M/M, Magic, Mating Rituals, Mermaid Erwin, Mermaids, Merperformers, Mutual Pining, Ocean, Pilot Fish, Pining, RP Format - Split POV, Reef Shark, Requited Love, Secrets, Shark Levi, Sharks, Sirens, Slow Build, Sunsets, Valentine's Day, mermaid levi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 01:30:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3918274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mastia/pseuds/Mastia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MystiTrinqua/pseuds/MystiTrinqua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working as a merperformer alongside his idol, a lone shark named Levi, has been Eren Yaeger's dream since he first laid eyes on the man. When he's offered a chance to do just that, the brunet has no choice but to accept. Mermaid! AU, Merperformer! AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Shark and His Pilot Fish

It was a sunny day, and Eren was watching the performers move through the lagoon. The brunet had an interview in about an hour and had decided to watch his favorites to psyche himself up. He was new to the whole thing, having just learned about merperfomers the year before, but he hoped that his inexperience wouldn't be too much of a problem. The manager, he thought her name was Hanji, had said that someone could help him if he got the job, after all.

His eyes skimmed over the water, following one particular performer as he swam. The man's dark undercut looked like a soft halo around him, and his eyes were closed. He looked content under the blue, and Eren smiled. He didn't know the man's name because he never really interacted with the crowd, but he didn't mind, really. The way he moved was beautiful. 

~

Out of everyone who worked at the lagoon, Hanji was probably the only person who knew his secret and why he was really so at home in the water. Not so much with the other performers, but in the water. Why he was the only one who could swim around in a shark tank and never be so much as paid a passing glance by the animals unless they chose to follow him around occasionally. Hanji didn't even pay him; he was here for the free meat. That and the simple enjoyment that the crowd seemed to get out of watching him just exist underwater. He wasn't doing anything different from what he usually did - swimming around the clear blue water with an expression of disinterest as he blended into the marine life. Yet somehow this one kid always kept coming back to watch him. It was odd. 

He could feel the eyes on him even with his own shut as he reclined against a rock, basking in a patch of sunlight that filtered down under the surface as the other performers  and fish existed around him, fading into the background. He didn't talk to them, didn't really have anything to say that was worth it.

Sitting up, he crossed his arms over his slowly undulating fin and turned his head to the side, looking directly out of the tank at the brunet kid who was always watching him, sending him a look of idle curiosity with a slightly tilted head as if to say 'what are you looking at?' before swimming closer over to the glass wall separating the water from the viewing area, laying his fingers against the glass while looking intently at the stranger.

~ 

Eren's eyes widened when the man started swimming over, embarrassment at being caught turning his neck and ears a bright shade of red. The man was even better looking up close, and Eren was stuck staring in awe at the graceful way he sliced through the water. He watched intently as the man's fingers spread out, noticing the webbing in between them. _I wonder how they do that without it messing up when it's wet._ When their gazes met for the first time, Eren's breathing became unsteady. He was surprised by how the other's eyes seemed to glow. It reminded him of a predator. Just as he was about to touch his fingers to the glass as well, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and watched as the man swam away.

"I suppose that answers my question of what made you interested." Hanji commented, smiling in amusement as she watched Levi flee the scene like he'd been caught out acting up for the tourist's cameras just for showing interest in one person. Removing her hand from Eren's shoulder, she glanced down at her clipboard, pulling a ballpoint pen from behind her ear. "Levi is quite the enigma sometimes, even for me."

There was a slight pause before she led him over to a bench so that they could conduct the interview she'd planned for him. She'd already seen his resume and approved so she didn’t need much more.

"So, Eren, if I lay out the money and time you get you the training for this, are you going to be worth the investment? Or are you going to run off to SeaWorld in a few months?"

Eren made a disgusted face at the mention of SeaWorld. The way they treated the animals was anything but okay, and he'd die before ever being a part of something like that. "I believe I'd be worth it. And no, I'd never work there. Ever." He didn't like talking about himself like that, but he was determined to get the job. And bashing yourself during an interview would be dumb. "And his name's Levi?"

"Ah, I see you don't like their policies either." Hanji replied, silently happy that someone else shared her view. Not everyone did, even after the Blackfish documentary aired. "Yes. His name is Levi. Although most people just call him a lone shark. He's... somewhat distant, for an entertainer. Not that I imagine I have to tell you that."

Aware that she was getting off topic, she returned her attention to her clipboard. "Are you okay with signing a waiver for any injury during training? I know you passed the initial testing and we take utmost care to make sure no one gets hurt, but just in case. You'll be fully insured once you take on your role full time."

"Of course." The brunet nodded, seriously. He had trained hard the past year to make it through the tests, practicing breathing and swimming in the ocean behind his house, and he was well aware that a number of things could happen: lack of oxygen, sore muscles, choking on salt water just to name a few. "How long does training usually last?" He was eager to start.

"Well, given that you made it through the tests, really the training is just to get you acclimatized to the environment in there." Hanji replied, clearly excited to have a new member on the performance roster. Eren's interview was more or less a formality at this point anyway. "Let you know where your safe places to come up for breath and things like that are so as to maintain the illusion of being able to breathe underwater. It'll only be about a week and you'll get a mentor to follow around."

Her expression became rather mischievous at that, seeing Levi's display of interest earlier had given her ideas that he probably wouldn't thank her for later. "Perhaps you'd like Levi to do it? I can always ask him for you."

"W-what?" Eren yelped, stuttering. To be trained by the man who inspired him to join the business would be a rare chance he'd probably never get again. He chewed on his lips, murmuring under his breath as Hanji laughed at his enthusiasm. "Really?" He couldn't help the amount of hope that laced his question. He frowned, "But he doesn't seem like he'd want to do it..."

Hanji barely resisted the urge to coo at his sudden enthusiasm. It seemed like offering him the chance to train with Levi was everything he wanted in life at that particular moment, and it was cute. She could understand why Levi was so taken with him when he looked like that.

"Yes, really. I'm sure he can cope with having a cute little pilot fish like you for a week. You might even only need a few days." she replied, shrugging. "You did kind of take to it like a fish to water, pardon the pun."

If she looked out through the water behind the glass she could still see Levi in the middle distance, stalking around one small area apparently doing some deep thinking. Well... to anyone else, it just looked like he was swimming. You couldn't really 'stalk' underwater. But she knew he was.

"I'll let Sasha fill you in on all the small details, but I think it’s fair enough to say that you're hired, Eren. Bring back a signed copy of your contract," she paused, handing him a stapled collection of papers from her clipboard, "and you can start tomorrow."

Smiling, the teen chuckled and took the document from her, trying to hide his happiness from the older woman. He didn't want to seem too obsessed. "Thanks- I hope I'm can live up to that." He turned and looked through the glass, trying to remember where he'd heard the name before. "Sasha? Isn't she the one with the copper tail? My friend Connie likes to bring her food and stuff..."

"Yeah, that's her. She'll be in the loading area, circled on the map." Hanji replied, passing him one and wondering if Eren had ever worked up the courage to bring Levi anything. People rarely ever did given that Levi was always passive and didn't like interacting with the crowds. He was fine with them taking pictures, but he didn't play up to them and he never smiled and tried to be friendly. Except to young children, he was always careful not to scare them, which Hanji liked to think meant he cared.

He might be almost 100% carnivorous, and certainly a scarily good predator the few times she'd seen him in his natural environment, but he had never hurt anything that didn't attack him first. The only problem was that he'd never agreed to mentor anyone before. "I'll let you know about Levi when you get in tomorrow morning. For now I have to go, there's an elementary school tour group coming in soon that'll need overseeing."

~

Eren followed Hanji's instructions, following the map as he made his way to meet Sasha. After about ten minutes of wandering, he finally found it. She was sitting at a table by herself, chewing on what Eren thought looked like an apple, and he walked over to sit across from her. He was a little surprised by how normal she looked out of costume. Usually, whenever he saw her entertaining visitors, she had her hair down and laced with 'pearls' and other trinkets.

"Hello, my name is Eren." He smiled and shook her hand when she reached out to greet him, still eating. "Hanji said that you were supposed to tell me about things around here?" Sasha nodded before swallowing her food, and answering. "Yep. It's pretty easy to catch on- just takes a little while to get used to the weird layout. She said you were going to be a performer so I guess we'll start at the front and work our way to the dressing rooms."

~

Levi barely noticed Hanji trying to wave him over, a little later in the afternoon, until he poked his head out of the water and caught the scent of blood and meat. This was most definitely a bribe attempt, Hanji always brought him meat when she wanted something really badly, it just remained to be seen what she was angling for.

It didn't take more than a few strokes of his tail to cross the remaining distance between them, the dark-coloured gills on either side of his neck closing up so that he could speak normally after taking a minute to flush the water from his lungs.

"Why are you waving that at me, Hanji?" he asked sullenly, raising an eyebrow at her as he eyed the raw steak dangling from her hand over the water's edge.

"Incentive. We have a new kid and he wants to be your pilot fish for the week." Hanji replied, dropping the meat into the water. Levi was on it in seconds, ripping into the raw flesh with razor sharp teeth that were a good 75% of the reason why he didn't smile at the tourists.

"I don't think so, Hanji." he replied, blood dripping from his mouth and forming an unnerving decoration for his smirk. "I don't need some new kid questioning why I never come up for air."

"You seemed to like him earlier, and I know he's been watching you a lot." Hanji said, shrugging. "His name's Eren Jaeger."

"That kid?" Levi paused, shrugged and then went back to ripping chunks from the steak. "Alright. Trial run for a day, otherwise you can give him back to the girl who's always eating between shifts."

"Oh, he'll be excited. A day it is."

~

It didn't take long for Sasha to show him around the premises. They'd started at the front, the brown haired girl telling him how everything worked. “I’ve seen you around quite a bit, so I assume you know how paying works. The only thing you need to really know about it as an employee is that we all take shifts working inside as well as out in the water.  Levi's the only one that doesn't have too."

"Why?" Eren frowned.

"No one ever asked, so I'm not sure." Sasha shrugged, continuing the tour. Next they walked through the aquarium area where fish and marine life were rehabilitated. "Performers don't take care of them, but we all kind of 'adopt' one when we first start out and keep an eye out for them." Eren nodded, letting her know he was listening as watched the various fish. "They're so many..."

After spending some time wandering around, they finally made it to the dressing rooms. Eren was practically bouncing where he stood. No one was there, except them, and Sasha showed him where he would be able to get ready. "This is where the magic happens. We do our makeup and hair and everything here and go over to that little pool. Someone will help you put on your tail and then there's an opening where you can swim directly into the lagoon. It locks at night so people can't get into the main building if they happen to make it into the water." Eren was completely entranced by the room, and the reality of the situation had finally caught up to him.

"I don't think Hanji's gonna have you do much swimming during work hours until you start using your tail. Do you know who will be you mentor?" Sasha turned to look at Eren, who had pulled up his pants and was sitting at the edge of the pool with his legs in the water. "I think it might be Levi? If he's okay with it..." He didn't notice the look of shock that was present on Sasha's face.


	2. Predator and Prey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my second RP with the lovely Myst <3 As usual I'm (Mastia) am Eren and Mystitrinqua is Levi.

Levi had chosen not to sleep inside the main building that night, even though Hanji left the tunnel open for him. He was going to have to be careful about pretending he needed to breathe regularly for the next few days, and that was going to be bothersome. He appreciated the steak on Eren's behalf though, so he supposed he could be a little nicer to Eren than he usually did.

He did actually have to go and meet the kid, though, swimming back around to the entrance he knew the humans used to access the lagoon water and heading inside to lounge around at the shallow end of the small pool at the other end of the tunnel to wait for Eren to turn up.

~

Eren was too excited for the next day to sleep so instead, he spent his night floating in the pool in his backyard and watching the sky. Shortly after getting home, he had completely the paperwork that need to be signed, and had gotten his clothes ready. Since he would be swimming, but wouldn't be able to use a tail until it was made, Sasha had told him that trunks would be fine.

When the morning finally arrived, he made his way back to the lagoon, happily wearing the key to the front door around his neck. After arriving, it was only a little while before he was walking through the door to the dressing room, and his breath hitched in surprise when he saw Levi already ready and waiting. 

~

Levi propped his head up on one hand as he watched Eren walk in and then pause, able to hear his breath hitch at the sight of him but not really understanding why. His tail sliced through the water from side to side a little, showing his undercurrent of annoyance at being in such an enclosed space.

"Good morning. Eren, isn't it?" he smirked a little, just enough to reveal a glint of teeth but not enough to show off the extent of the fangs in his mouth, most of which were retracted when he wasn't using them to carve his way into raw meat or fish. "I finally know your name. You've been watching me."

Cheeks burning red, Eren walked over to his makeup table to put his things. He wasn't even going to try and lie. "Y-you're very- I love your swimming." The brunet pulled his shirt up and off, pausing for a second while it was over his head to hide his face from sight.

"I'm very... what?" he asked slowly, being deliberately playful. Having spent most of his life avoiding humans he still didn't really understand them. He knew what Eren's blush meant, though. And why he was so busy trying to hide it. "Is my swimming all you were watching for, Eren?" They'd only been talking for a few minutes and already the kid was too much fun to torment.

Beautiful. Graceful. Eren could spend hours talking about how great it was to watch Levi, but there was no way in hell he could tell that to the man's face. Trying to dodge a bullet, the brunet put on his best poker face, letting Levi's teasing completely go over his head. "I watch the others too. You just seem more natural. It's like you really can breathe underwater or something."

"Well, fancy that. Maybe I can. Stranger things happen." Levi replied, chuckling and shaking his head as he pushed himself a little further backward into the water. "Although the others are good at their jobs. I've just been doing it longer than them is all it's down to." He didn't want Eren getting the wrong idea after all, or rather, didn't want him getting to the truth he'd made a joke out of.

"Mmmk." Eren smiled as he walked to the pool, already in his swim trunks. He really didn't need to do much to get ready besides remove his shirt and shoes. He thought about taking off his key as well, but preferred to keep it on. He just prayed that the chain wouldn't break while he was in the water. "So what're we starting with?"

"We're just doing endurance tests, and I'll show you all the shortcuts to get to your safe breathing spots without being seen." Levi replied, eyeing Eren's key for a few moments, wondering what it unlocked. "I guess it might be a little hard for you to keep up if you haven't got your tail yet."

The brunet smiled, testing out the water for only a second before getting in completely. "Is it really easier with the tail? I've never had the chance to use one..." He looked off into the distance, lost in thought. "They are definitely nicer to look at than legs, though. And it's great how each one is unique to the owner."

"Yeah, it's easier. With a tail you get more powerful, coordinated movement than all the pointless thrashing around with legs." Levi replied, frowning a little, his own tail breaching the surface to splash at Eren. "Are they taking the cost of yours out of your salary?" He hadn't exactly had to buy his but he imagined that all that durable plastic had to incur quite the cost, especially since tails were custom made.

"I think? Hanji didn't really tell me, and Sasha was too busy trying to figure out what design they should do. I'm supposed to have the fitting sometime this week after my lesson..." The brunet sunk down into the water until just the tip of his chin hit the surface. "I hope it fits me as well as yours does. You're a shark, right? Black tipped reef shark maybe?

"Yeah, you could say that." Levi replied, smirking a little. "The sharks seem to like me, anyway. I've never been bitten yet." He wasn't surprised that Eren hadn’t been sorted yet if he'd only been around for a day, but he didn’t think that he'd been assigned an animal yet. Most people had their costume designs based on what species they were looking after, except him of course, he just had a strange affinity for sharks.

"Sasha thinks I should be an octopus..." Eren frowned, crossing his arms under the water. "But how would that even work? Wouldn't it mess with my swimming?" He looked up to Levi, eyes meeting the other man's. "What do you think?"

"I think Sasha should stick to raiding the kitchens between breaks. Has Hanji nicknamed you yet?" He paused, leaning on the wall just before the tunnel. He wouldn't be able to talk once they had their heads under the water level. "That's usually a good indication of what you're in for."

Eyebrows knitting together in thought, Eren shook his head. "She's called me 'pilot fish' a couple times..." I didn't really take it too seriously. I think she was just making fun of me for watching yo-." The brunet caught himself, ears and neck turning a dark shade of red. "Um, I didn't think she was serious..."

Levi eyed the teen up with a predatory smirk as he watched him trail off into silence and blush. "You're going to be stripy, then. Hanji doesn't fuck around with her nicknames." he replied, choosing to brush over Eren's little slip up to avoid embarrassing him even more. He did want him to be able to concentrate on swimming after all. "Ready?"

At the mention of training, Eren's blush vanished and he turned serious. "Of course. What do we do first?"

"Do what you always do." Levi replied, expecting Eren not to really need handholding through the basics if he'd got far enough through the practice sessions to be hired as a performer. "Follow me." He took a moment to breathe out and empty his lungs of air before sinking beneath the water line, swopping to using the gills on either side of his throat as he took off through the tunnel with a quick flick of his tail, easily clearing it and getting out into the lagoon water.

Eren nodded after a moment, holding his breath as he went under water, following Levi as fast as he could. And man, was he fast. When he had watched the other man as a visitor to the park, he couldn’t fully appreciate his speed, and he was glad he got the chance then. The brunet's eyes widened in awe a fraction, and by the time they made it back up to the he was full on staring.

He went up for a breath of air and waited for Levi before speaking. Surprisingly, the other man wasn't in any rush to come back up for air. "Um, I normally start by just lying face up and getting used to the current..."

Taking Eren's cue to know when he should be making it look like he needed to breathe, Levi nonetheless took his time in surfacing. It was always colder above water, not necessarily something he liked. "Then do it. I'm not used to having company, but I'm glad you kept up." he replied taking a moment or two before sinking almost fully back beneath the water level, just his eyes and damp hair showing above the surface as he watched Eren.

Following Levi's direction, he did what was normal I his routine and maneuvered to lie on his back. Eren closed his eyes when he was in position and let out a deep breath, content at letting the small waves rock him along the top of the water. He did his best to ignore the other man, knowing he was swimming somewhere underneath him. It might've just been his imagination, but he could've sworn he was being circled, and despite the warm water on his skin, he felt goosebumps forming.

If it felt like Eren was being circled, that was more or less because he was, Levi slowly and carefully swimming around him beneath the waterline as he floated, his presence enough to keep some of the bigger fish away from him while he wasn't as aware of them. Not that anything was going to try and eat him, more like throw him off and possibly make him inhale a mouthful of salt water, which Levi assumed wouldn't be pleasant for the human.

Eren spent around ten minutes, give or take, with his eyes closed floating on the surface. He could've spent hours like that, but he felt like he wasn't actually training since he wasn't pushing himself in any way. After opening his eyes, he shifted his legs, swinging them down to where he was horizontal and having to swim to keep afloat. He hadn't paid much attention to the other man until now, trying to get his attention that he needed to speak with him.

When both were above water, he smiled. "Do you know where I might be able to find a bar or ladder or something? Since I don't have the tail to weigh me down, I usually pull myself underwater for as long as possible." Frowning, he shook his head, "You could hold me down, I guess, but if I go past my limit, I might punch or kick you trying to get air. 

Thinking about it for a minute, Levi turned, motioning for Eren to hold onto his shoulders. "I'm not going to drown you, Eren. Just tap me when you need air and we'll come back up." This way he would still be able to have use of his arms to direct them but Eren could get as deep under the surface as he could. Maybe he'd get to feel what it was like to go as fast as Levi could too, which might be fun for him. "No unnecessary wriggling around required."

"Mmmk." After a moment's hesitation, the brunet put his arms around the other man's neck. When Levi sunk underwater, Eren took a large breath of air and wrapped his legs around his waist. Levi's tail felt surprisingly real against his skin, and praying that he didn't notice, the brunet shifted his thighs to rub along where flesh met flesh. Even the seam felt natural. He wondered if his would feel that real.

Levi definitely did notice when Eren's thighs brushed the seam between his tail and the rest of him, but he didn't comment, guiding Eren's hand up under his shoulders so that he didn't block his gills. It wasn't all that long before they were skimming the lagoon floor, Levi quickly moving between patches of seaweed and reef while he waited for Eren to tap him. Without it he'd just keep swimming, not really noticing that he wasn't going near the surface again.

Eren was surprised that Levi went that far down, tapping on his shoulder to have him go back up. Fucking 78 feet. The feeling of his ears popping almost had him sucking in water, and his hands dug in to Levi's shoulders while he did his best to ignore the reflex. As he breached the surface, he gasped, coughing as he tried to explain. "Too... fast..."

Levi hadn't even noticed the depth, perfectly used to adjusting for it in a short time by now. He didn't understand what Eren's problem was. "Too fast for what?" he asked, leaning his elbows on a rock and raising his eyebrow at Eren as his tail waved languidly side to side in the water. "Or did I go too deep for your first time?"

Catching the innuendo (though he was sure it was just him being dirty), Eren turned beet red and began coughing harder. "W-wha...it wasn't my first time..." Realizing what he said he groaned, wanting to drown. After a moment he swam over the the rock Levi was resting by, and climbed on top. "The pressure just made it hard to regulate my breathing. And I don't think you'd wanna be giving me mouth to mouth if I went and passed out. 

Although he hadn't meant the innuendo the first time he was aware of it now, smirking a little at Eren. "Not your first time eh?" he asked, head tilting to lie slightly sideways on his arms. "Maybe it would be interesting to see what colour your face turned if I did...” he trailed off into a low, amused chuckle.

The brunet's face paled as he recognized the mischievous glint in the other man's eyes. Levi's laugh made him shiver, and he slipped back into the water to distract himself from his need to touch him. It'd be a little hard to run his fingers along the man's face if he had to use them for swimming. "Um I'll just use the rock this time..." After taking in another breath, he braced himself and grabbed onto the rough surface, using it to keep himself from floating back to the surface. He watched as Levi shrugged and began slicing through the water around him. 

Levi wasn't necessarily that perturbed by Eren's reluctance to try it again, choosing to stay relatively close by but more or less leaving the rookie to do what he felt like. Eren had to get used to the environment on his own, after all. After this week (because he'd already decided that Eren was worth the full week) he was going to be doing this without Levi's help, without his presence at all really, given that Levi tended to invest a lot of energy in actively avoiding the other performers when he could and Eren would be no different.

The routine of holding his breath until he was ready to pass out only to come up for air and do it again, had Eren tired after a couple of hours. About an hour into training, the two had moved somewhere more private and closed off. Visitors had started to arrive and they didn't want to remove the illusion of the lagoon's 'mermaids' not having to work to be able to stay under water.

Lounging on the rock he'd been using, Eren covered his face with his arm, smiling. "It should be lunchtime soon, right? I'm starving..." Peeking down at the other man, he sighed. "How am I going to get back inside without them noticing I don't have a tail? I asked Sasha yesterday and she thought it'd be funny to make it look like you guys were drowning me."

Really he was surprised that he'd kept remembering to make it look like he needed to go back up and breathe occasionally, although taking the capability of Eren's lungs as a cue was helping. Levi swam up to Eren's side, his tail adjusting periodically, countering the slight currents to keep him still without clinging to anything.

"Eren, I nearly drowned you just by swimming normally. Do you really want me to try?" He full on grinned then, purposefully showing the slight serration to his teeth. He did have fangs but they were slightly retractable to lessen their likelihood to stop him being able to properly speak. "Although I suppose the idea has merit, being a predatory race... according to mythology...”

"Haha true." Eren frowned, swishing his feet in the water. "I wonder how correct the mythology is. Like I always believed them being carnivores and stuff- well unless they were like a whale one or something like that. I actually ruined the Little Mermaid for my friend Armin when we were kids cause I said that Ariel probably was the cause of the ship sinking so she and her family could eat the sailors..."

He laughed, remembering the horror on his friend's face. "And I never understood how they had kids. Do they have them like mammals or fish?" Without thinking, the brunet poked Levi's chest with his foot. "Sharks have live births and all that jazz so it's not that far to say that they can too."

"Who knows?" Levi drawled, glancing down at where Eren had poked him and resisting the urge to whack him upside the head for it. He didn't usually even let Hanji touch him and here the kid was, taking liberties. "Maybe come that stupid mating ritual day you'll find out. Hanji's done weirder things for the crowds that keep this place going." he shrugged, glancing away. "But yes, that's generally how we play it. Depending on the species, we're carnivorous. So don't get blood in the water around me."

"You guys have a mating ritual day?" Eren asked, eyes widening a fraction at the other male. He couldn't help but laugh. "Hahaha-oh my god. Well, that's interesting. “Sliding back into the water, the brunet shook his head. “And I'm not planning on it anytime soon. Wouldn't want anyone to eat me, would I?" After getting acclimated to the temperature again, he went underwater to rewet his hair and smoothe his bangs out of the way. He did his best to stay out of Levi's path- he'd touched him without realizing until it was too late before and he wasn't about to make that mistake again. "Any other ideas if you're not going to 'drown' me?"

"I think you call it 'Valentines'." Levi replied, obviously utterly disinterested in the concept. He was much more likely to want to literally eat Eren than in any metaphorical sense, given that he'd hunted a human or two in his time when he was much younger and a little more.. temperamental. "I'd say I'll give you a head start and then play at hunting you down... but I doubt it would be a long chase given you probably don't have a top speed of 30 miles an hour."

"Oh. So it's a V-day thing..." Eren frowned, thinking that it must suck for the performers with significant others. He didn't think he'd really have any problem himself, but it must be horrible for them. "And yeah, you'd catch me in less than a heartbeat... Should I just play dead then?"

Levi shrugged again. "Don't ask me, I never get involved with that sentimental stupidity." He didn't even talk to the other performers that much, let alone want to play act at expressing interest in mating with them. "I don't know about playing dead. But you could always be the kind of idiot sea-tourist who gets too close to a predator because they have good intentions and no common sense. That should get the people watching talking, wondering if you survived." That way, the visitors were introduced to Eren and they could get close enough to the staff entrance that Eren stood a fighting chance at being able to flee him without being caught too early.

"Alrighty then. I hope the others catch on quickly. Don't need anyone trying to save me from you." Eren joked before swimming off into the open. He moved slower than he usually would, doing his best to act as inept in the water as possible. The other performers gave him strange looks, but they kept their distance for the most part, doing their own thing.

The only exception was Sasha, a playful glint in her eyes. He didn't have to fake the awe on his face as he reached out to try and touch her while she circled him. After what felt like forever she grabbed his face and grinned.

His eyes widened when she leaned forward and he gasped when he felt teeth on his cheek. He knew they wore fake fangs but he didn't realize just how sharp they were until they were cutting his skin, a small pearl of blood floating next to him as she pulled him further down. It didn't really hurt, but he made a mental note to get back at her later when he didn't have to act like he was scared.

Levi was taking his time, allowing Eren and Sasha to interact as they drew the attention of the crowd, the young children paying attention first and then their parents and video cameras slowly being persuaded to train on Eren as he played the inexperienced swimmer. He was good enough at assuming his normal role - that of a distant, patrolling apex predator in the shallower reef environment.

The blood certainly didn't help him keep his distance, though, the shallow cut thankfully not leaking too much of it into the water. Sasha didn't seem to realize she'd cut him, but Levi was considering Eren rather lucky that Hanji had bribed him with that steak the day before. It certainly wouldn't do to take a bite out of the kid on his first day.

Instead, he swam straight past the pair of them as a warning shot and to attract Eren's attention, close enough to touch at arm’s length with his tail creating a current that rushed over both of them, disturbing the wave pattern of Sasha's long, floating hair. His eyes were a warning glare that perhaps Sasha should continue to play along and perhaps take the role of savior. She couldn't quite hit 30mph but she could go faster than Eren.

When Levi swam past, Eren flinched, thinking that he was about to die. Seeing his eyes had made his heart almost stop. They were too intense. Too predatory. He silently prayed to himself that Sasha had seen, relaxing a little when she possessively pulled him closer to her. His heart was beating a mile a minute as she swam away from the other performer, and he briefly wondered what had changed. He never thought Levi was someone to get too wrapped up in these things.

Although he was very far from the adrenaline and thoughtlessness that characterized a feeding frenzy state his mind was nowhere near settled. Aside from on the thought that it would be so much fun to watch them trying to get away from him. And it would probably give the people watching the closest they got to a little bit of excitement all day.

He gave them a good fifteen second head start before he flipped over under the water and started after them with one powerful lash of his black-tipped tail, and during their progress as the audience watching followed them across the tank, he swung past them twice, getting dangerously close, almost skin to skin,  before curving away again just to scare them that little bit more and drag the chase out by forcing them to redirect themselves, to make Sasha thrash faster in an attempt to escape his attention. At this point he wasn't sure whether she was actually scared he might hurt her, or if she knew that even had he been a performer the blood in the water would have made him 'want' to hunt them down. He was a shark, after all.

Each time Levi got closer, Sasha pushed herself to go faster. Eren could see the almost panic on her face from where he clung to her neck, and he closed his eyes trying to keep himself calm. They were about twenty feet from the pool when Eren felt a hand around his ankle, and he screamed in surprise, bubbles and precious air escaping from his mouth. He was terrified, but resisted the urge to lash out, knowing that while kicking Levi would've been realistic, it wouldn't be something smart.

Deciding to toy with them just a little bit more, given that they were almost out of sight and rapidly closing in on the tunnel that would take Eren back inside and effectively "backstage", Levi grabbed hold of his ankle this time, pulling Eren just a little bit so that Sasha had to tighten her hold on him. He hadn't meant to make Eren empty his lungs, though, and let go the instant he did, allowing Sasha to slip away from him and get Eren through the tunnel and back to the surface.

He allowed himself a moment or two to calm down before following them. Sasha was lying on the shallow ramp gasping for breath much the same that Eren was, and as soon as he poked his head above water, just his eyes worth, she turned over and sat up to round on him.

"What the fuck was that Levi?!" she gasped out amid heaving breaths.

"Sorry." Levi replied, although admittedly his apology was mostly to Eren. "Had to get him back in here somehow. I didn't think it would actually scare you."

"Fuck." Eren managed between coughs. His lungs burned from breathing in the salt water, and his eyes were red, tears running down his cheeks. "Oh my god , it hurts." When he managed to catch his breath, he ran his hands along his face and lightly kicked Sasha on the shoulder. "Ugh. Do you have any band aids? I think you cut me when you bit me..."

"She did." Levi remarked, smirking a little again as he swam up next to Eren. "I told you no blood in the water, Eren. But I didn't mean to make you squeal like that."

"They're in my locker." Sasha replied, running her hands through her wet hair to smooth it out of her face. "I kind of can't get up to get them, though, my shift's not over yet." she added, apologetically raising her ankles so that her tail breached the surface to indicate why. "There might be a spare pack hanging around in one of the open lockers though."

"Okay. Thanks for helping with the thing by the way. It was probably more interesting for the crowd." It took a moment, but Eren eventually got up, rummaging through a few of the unlocked lockers along the wall. He found a first aid kit quickly, and patched himself up, cleaning his cheek with rubbing alcohol and putting on a waterproof band aid. "Levi? Do you want me to grab you something to eat while I'm out? It must be a pain to get the tails off..."

"Nah. I'll eat later. Go have your fun flailing around on dry land." Levi replied, making a mental note to apologies to Sasha again when Eren was gone. It seemed like he'd pissed her off and he didn't really mean to. "Just don't pick up too many admirers, hm?"

Eren let out a loud laugh at that, waving back at the other man as he grabbed a towel from his bag. He took out a clean shirt and pair of jeans and underwear as well and quickly dried himself off. As he walked off to the men's changing area, he thought about grabbing Sasha something, and smiled.

It didn't take any time for him to get dressed, having been far used to it by then, and he grabbed his phone and typed a small message to Connie. While he waited for the reply, he headed to the park's cafe. Before Levi had even answered, he knew that he'd be getting the man something. He just needed to figure out what.


	3. Nemo's

Almost as soon as Eren was out of sight and earshot, Levi glanced over at Sasha. He rarely apologized but for the sake of her continued help he figured he probably needed to. "Again... I'm sorry for that. I couldn't really break my lone shark character for the sake of a diver with a cute ass." 

"He does have cute ass, you're right." Sasha replied, suddenly getting what Levi recognized as her wild scheming expression. It was odd how much of Hanji tended to rub off on her recruits. "Hey, what if we had a little storyline to get him in the water with us? He'll have his tail by Valentine’s day."

Levi didn't like where this was going, not for an instant. "Breathe one word of whatever you're planning to shitty glasses and I swear to god I'll chase you the length of the lagoon, you little brat." he ground out.

Sasha ignored him, if her persistent smirk as she waved him off and sank back under the water level to head back outside was anything to go by.

~

Connie had replied almost too fast in Eren's opinion, and he chuckled to himself as he stood in line at the cafe. Nemo's was a large dining area built at the top of the park and kept to the marine theme not only through its name, but through its food selection. While it did offer delicious burgers and steaks, it was known for its fresh seafood. Staring at the menu, the brunet wondered how people could eat fish in such a space. I mean, the Park was basically a marine life preserve.

Deciding to go with the house burger, Eren ordered an extra serving of fries for Sasha and a root beer and went to find a place to eat. He chose the closet place to glass wall that overlooked the lagoon, making sure that his number was visible to the waiter who would bring out his food. The brunet sighed as he got comfortable, and let out a startled yelp when Hanji whacked him on the back.

His heartrate was going a mile a minute as he bit back a cursed, and she slid into the seat across from him, a wide grin plastered on her face. His thoughts drifted back to earlier, and he flinched, shaking his head." Oh, my god. What is it with you guys? Is it 'scare the rookie' day or something?" 

“Maybe. Although I think Levi did that for me just fine." Hanji replied, quite interested on hearing Eren's thoughts about the grumpy fish in question. "So how's your day been so far?"

"It's going fine. Levi almost drowned me this morning, but other than that, I think I'm doing pretty well." Eren's eyes widened when he realized Hanji might be able to answer his question, and he couldn't help the excitement laced in his voice. "Oh, and I was wondering if you knew what Levi likes to eat? He said he didn't want anything, but he must be hungry. We've been swimming all morning..."

Hanji smirked knowingly as she saw Eren's face light up and wondered what - or rather, how much - to tell him. "Levi is a red meat kind of guy." she replied, glancing off to the side. "Or fish. Just make sure it's on the raw side if you get him a steak." She could already guess what Levi had done that almost drowned Eren given how fast she'd seen him chase Sasha earlier. It was why he never interacted with guests much; he just couldn’t help going too fast.

Laughing, the brunet nodded. "Thanks. I think I'll go with the steak then. Would you like anything, Hanji?" Eren didn't really mind buying lunch. His family- namely his father- was extremely well off and Grisha made sure to give him a fairly large allowance for doing well at school. 

No thanks, Eren. Did Sasha tell you what we do for valentine’s day yet?" she asked, the mischief in her expression only increasing at the thought that perhaps they might finally be able to get Levi involved when before he'd gone to the extreme of hiding where she couldn't get to him in order to avoid it.

“Um..." Biting the inside of his cheek, Eren did his best not to laugh, eyes looking anywhere but directly at the older woman. "No, but Levi, uh, mentioned something..." His gaze flickered back to Hanji for only a second before moving to look back out the window at the performers. " 

"Oh?" Hanji leant across the table, smirking as she noticed that Eren was avoiding her eyes. She was surprised that Levi had been the one to bring it up and wondered how he'd phrased it, given that sometimes he wasn't the best at framing things in human terms. "Levi did? What 'something' did he mention?"

Eren could see everyone but the man in question swimming in the lagoon, and blushed when the thought that he might be waiting for him to get back from lunch. "M-mating rituals? But I'm not really sure what he meant..." 

Hanji laughed and leant back in her hair, arms crossing behind her head. "Well, if he called it 'that dumb mating ritual day' he was probably just referring to Valentines itself. He gets like that sometimes." she replied, wondering whether Eren had caught on to anything yet. It was always a point of interest to her to see how quickly people noticed odd things about Levi when they got close. "But we do have them in a sense. All the performers pick a partner and act all lovey dovey for a day. It's only Levi who refuses. Last year he outright hid from me so I couldn't partner him, the big sourpuss." she sighed. "But maybe he'll change his mind for you."

"Me?" He shook his head, laughing loudly. "I'm flattered but I don't think that's going to happen. And I don't even know if I'll have a tail by then." The waiter took that moment to walk up to the two and place Eren's order in front of him before asking him to check his burger for doneness. After doing so, he smiled and asked for the restaurants best cut of steak, medium rare on the rare side. "Valentine's is only a couple days away."

"It'll be done by then." Hanji replied, fairly confident. She'd already finalized the design and sent Eren's specifications to them and her suppliers were usually rather speedy. It was just a matter of waiting for the layers of waterproof paint to dry properly. "I can more or less guarantee it."

Raising an eyebrow as he continued to eat, Eren shrugged. Between bites of fry, he took a sip of root beer and continued talking. "Well, you're the boss, so I don't really have a choice in the matter. Not that I'd really mind anyway. You'd just need to get Levi to agree, I guess." If he was honest, the brunet was actually really curious how the different 'couples' would show their love. "And how would that work exactly? The whooing part, I mean?"

“However they want it to. Some people research their animal and adopt its mating patterns and some do the more human methods of flirting." Hanji shrugged, staring out into the middle distance of the lagoon. Levi was back out there, she noticed, having secluded himself again. She hoped Eren would get him a little closer to the others in time.

"That's cool." Eren grinned, halfway done with his burger. "Hey, I guess if he doesn't want to be my partner I could always try to whoo him... Though, he'll probably kill me for it." He ate a few more of his fries before stopping. He was starting to get full and the last thing he wanted was a cramp when he was swimming. "We put on that little show earlier since we didn't know if it was okay for them to see me without a tail, but how am I going to train during hours if I can't be in the lagoon? Levi could always come to my place, I guess. Unless I can be there out of character. I mean, I could be another swimmer or something?"

"I certainly wouldn't advise it." Hanji replied, her grin not in the least decreased at the thought of Eren trying to woo a resistant Levi. "Although I don't think he'd kill you. Hmm...” Although she already had an idea or two in mind, she pretended to think about it for a moment or two. "Why don't you stay in the lagoon after hours to practice? As long as Levi is still with you, you should be safe enough. Levi doesn't spend much time away from here really."

"Well I do have a key. If it's alright I think that'd be the best course of action." Eren smiled and took another sip of his drink. "I'll stop by again when the park closes then..."

"It'll be fine. Just... maybe warn him? Or don't, surprising him might be fun." Hanji chuckled at the idea of Levi being caught off guard and then having to put up with Eren until he decided to go home. It would be amusing to see if Eren picked up on any signs that Levi wasn't as human as everyone else thought he was. "Not that safe, perhaps. But fun."

"I'll just tell him when I give him lunch. I don't think he'd be happy if I just dropped by, and I need to make sure he doesn't leave..." After a moment of thinking, he shook his head. "Even though I can't swim, is it alright for me to hang out here and talk with the performers as a guest? I don't really have anything to do at home since I brought all of my homework with me." Eren smiled. Meeting the others would be fun.

"Sure. You probably won't see Levi above water for a while, though, I think he went back to being a lone shark." Hanji replied, nodding her head out towards the secluded part of the tank where Levi was doing the aquatic equivalent of restless pacing. "Not that I expect that's out of the ordinary for you, Eren. You've always liked watching him swim, I noticed."

Groaning, Eren buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. He could tell from their first meeting that Hanji enjoyed teasing him about his fixation on the other performer. When it passed, he looked up and sighed, "I'd have guessed as much. I just hope he'll let me give him his steak..."

Hanji smiled. "I'm sure if he knows you're bringing him fresh meat he'll turn up soon enough." she replied, a certain spark in her eyes making it unclear whether she was talking about the steak or Eren himself. "Usually he just eats in the tank and keeps going with his day."

"Mmmk thanks for the tip." He finished up the last of what he was going to eat, calling over a server to check on Levi's order and pack up the rest of his food and Sasha's into a to go container. From what Connie had told him, the girl didn't really care whether the food was someone else’s leftovers. He knew he wouldn't eat the rest and she deserved all she wanted after swimming that hard to escape Levi.

Hanji took her leave shortly after that, waiter coming out with Levi's steak and side in a box. He stood up after paying, grabbing his things and walking quickly back to the dressing room. The brunet wanted to give it to him while it was still hot, and he prayed that Levi would take a break to eat. "God, I hope he shows up..." 

~

It wasn't until Sasha's hovering caught his attention that Levi realized Eren must have gone back to the dressing room, and he vaguely remembered that the kid had mentioned something about getting him food. His mood perked up a fraction again at the thought of more meat and it wasn't that long before he was sticking his head out of the water on the other side of the little tunnel, smoothing his dark, choppy fringe back from his face where it was wet and sticking to him.

Sasha had come up first, squealing in delight when Eren showed her the container of food, and after promising to bring it to her on the beach, she was gone. Levi showed up not long after, and sitting down next to the pool, but far enough that he wouldn't get too wet, he pushed over the steak. Hanji had told him not to bother with silverware, which he thought was a bit strange, but he didn't really care.

Levi looked happier when he saw the meat, but a little disappointed. Frowning, Eren hoped that he'd not fucked up and gotten something the older man didn't like. "Hanji said you liked rare steak, and I asked them for the rarest they could do..." He chewed on his bottom lip, "Is it alright? Or do I need to get something else?" He eyed the baked potato and small salad next to it. "And those are the most popular sides at Nemo?"

"You needn't worry about the sides, Eren." he replied, evaluating the steak for a moment or two. It didn't look too far gone, he supposed, he was just being picky, and he couldn't fault the kid for trying. "I'm limiting my carb intake; you can just give them to Sasha. I'm sure she'll love the extra potato." Carbs were generally the excuse humans used, he thought, Eren would probably buy that. "She'd be the person to ask about sides, I don't really order them."

Levi was delicate as he picked the meat up, an odd contrast to the ferocity with which he tore into it, ripping chunks away in order to chew and swallow before going back for more. Even with the slight charring it was still good and exactly what he needed after getting the scent of Eren's blood stuck in his senses earlier. "Thanks for this, by the way. You didn't have to."

"Think of it as thanks for putting up with me." Eren grinned and shut the box carefully. He tucked the information away for later that Levi didn't eat the sides, but he couldn't help the nagging feeling at the back of his head. It wasn't like it really affected him, but it was strange that the man didn't eat more. With as much exercise as the performers got, it was almost unheard of to not eat carbs, and every little bit of vegetables he could get, he took gladly. Levi also looked like he wasn't used to eating, which had the brunet chuckling under his breath as he cleaned up. 

A minute or two later, and Levi had only a bite left. With a grunt, Eren stood up, righting his balance to not trip and fall into the body of water less than a foot away. Making his way over to grab his bag with his homework and wet clothes, he pulled out an extra plastic bag to carry the leftovers. "I'm going to be hanging out on the beach for the rest of the day. Hanji didn't want me to go back out into the lagoon without my tail while people are here, so she told me to train with you at night? Is there a time we should me up or-?"

Briefly wondering what the hell Hanji was up to, Levi narrowed his eyes while he thought, tearing into his steak a little more. Either she was trying to set them up or she hadn't considered the idea that Eren might work him out. Or she had, and she thought it might be a good thing, for some inane reason, to trust the newcomer with his secret. "Alright. I'll be back here when everyone else goes home for the day. Come meet me. Failing that, I'll still be out in the lagoon so you'll have to come find me."

After nodding his head in agreement, Eren grabbed his things and made his way to the beach. He'd brought his laptop just in case something like this would happen, but took his time getting there, knowing that he didn't have too much work to do. As he walked, he watched the marine life, stopping only long enough to get the general idea of what the Lagoon rescued.

The brunet got a few stares from people who had been watching the 'mermaids' when his stunt with Sasha a Levi had been done, and he chuckled when a little girl had started hugging him and crying, happy that he 'wasn't eaten by the meanie shark man'.

He ended up taking some photos with the crowd, and talking with a few of the braver people who asked him about Levi. While he couldn't really say anything private (he'd just met the man after all), he did tell them that he wasn't as bad as he seemed from a distance before leaving. It was less than a second but when he arrived at the beach and didn't see the older man out swimming, he shook his head, disappointment making him frown.


	4. Undertow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren is impulsive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone else miss the merbabies?

Eren was excited to see Levi after the long day with the other performers. He'd met everyone on duty, including a sweet, freckled boy by the name of Marco, a strawberry blonde girl named Petra, and the mermaid Mikasa sometimes came to visit who was in her class, Annie. Sasha had introduced them all to him while she finished up something Connie had dropped by, and even though they were very welcoming, he had wanted to get back to a certain reef shark as soon as possible for some reason.

It had been relatively interesting to see Eren interacting with others for a longer period of time but Levi hadn't done anything particularly out of character by staying out of the way and keeping to himself. "Something like that." he replied, a small shrug accompanying his lapse back into watchful quiet as his gaze followed Eren around. "So, was there anything particular you wanted to practice doing, or are you just tailing me around for now?

He'd prefer Eren to show some kind of initiative if he had any about him, since it wasn't exactly in his nature to be the coddling kind and he was fully aware of that. He doubted Eren was ready for too much right now given he hadn't been able to handle the depth he'd been to before, though, which restricted what they could do.

The brunet sighed, pulled out of his embarrassment to think of the task at hand. "I think it'd probably be best if we did our separate things for now. I learn pretty fast from watching." He began to strip out of his clothes, grabbing a dry pair of swim trunks before heading to the changing area. _Not to mention the fact that having you breathing down my neck would justice me nervous..._

Levi nodded, quite happy to leave Eren to his own devices if he didn't want the overseeing. Hanji had asked him to babysit but it was quite obvious that Eren was competent enough not to drown if left alone. "Come find me if you want me, then." he replied, shrugging and pushing himself backward, receding further back into the water.

"Will do."

~

After changing quickly, Eren practically skipped to the pool that led out into the lagoon. He eased his way into the water, shivering in anticipation as he made his way out into the open. If he'd gotten anything from watching the other man, it was that Levi looked his best doing his own thing, and his heart beat unusually fast in his excitement to see his movements up close. The sun was setting and the colours that bounced off of the water made his breath hitch.

Levi more or less put Eren from his mind as he slipped back into the depths of the lagoon, figuring that if he wanted him he would come and get him, as he'd agreed before he left. He was much more active at night, exploring the places usually too populated by other performers or too close to the crowds, and therefore too bothersome to spend long periods of time in. He wasn't laboring under the illusion that it would be easy to keep up his secrecy if he actually spent his time socializing, after all.

About an hour in, give or take a few minutes, the brunet decided to take a break. Not sleeping much the previous night was catching up with him, and he didn't think Levi would be too happy having to drag his ass out of the water. Eren wasn't even sure at this point if the man would drag his ass out of the water. His movements were slower than usual but he made his way back to the opening without another thought.

Levi didn't notice that Eren was absent from the surrounding water for a good fifteen minutes, frowning slightly as he blinked and scanned the surroundings for him. When there was no sign, he headed back to the shallow pool just inside the changing area for the staff, figuring Eren would be there instead.

The sound of Levi splashing snapped Eren from his nap, and he lazily opened his eyes to look at the older man. He was still a bit out of it, but he did his best to wake up, propping himself back into a sitting position. The brunet had fallen asleep with his legs still in the water, wrinkling his skin, and he thanked the heavens that he hadn't fallen back into the water and drowned. "Shit, how long has it been?" Eren shook his head. "I don't even remember falling asleep..."

Levi tilted his head in response to the human's question, blinking at him. If he'd been asleep, that explained his absence, but there wasn't much use him hanging around if he was just going to doze through it. "Don't ask me, I've been out there." he replied, glancing back in the direction of the submerged entrance way. "I thought you were practicing?"

"I-uh..." The brunet blushed and shook his head. "I was too excited last night to get much sleep so it's been a long day. Sorry." Eren smiled through his embarrassment, and he sighed in relief when he felt his ears returning back to normal. As tired as he was, he really didn't want to head home quite yet. He just hoped that he wasn't putting too much of a burden on the other man. "So... how long do you usually stay?"

Resting his elbows on the side of the pool next to Eren so that they could talk more easily, he gave him a quick visual once over. He looked a little tired to be swimming but it wasn't like Levi could leave the water, so they were at somewhat of an impasse assuming that Levi cared enough about him drowning. He was still undecided on that. "Go home and sleep, then." he replied, dodging the question. "If you drown while I was supposed to be looking after you, I'm the one who'll get in trouble for it."

Eren pouted, averting his eyes when Levi didn't answer his question. He must have asked something too personal. "Um- let me rephrase that. Would you- uh- would you mind if we hung out for a little while?" The brunet felt silly asking, but he didn't feel comfortable enough to stay at the lagoon by himself, and it was too close to dusk for him to leave quite yet. "I always watch the sunset, and if I leave now, I'll miss it..."

"Feel free." Levi replied simply, a slight smirk curling his lips at Eren's awkwardness. "If you can keep up, of course." It was probably about as friendly as he was likely to get, at least for now. He was too wary of the dangers Eren represented for anything else. "Unless you just wanted to talk, we can stay here for that."

"Nah, we might miss it if we stay in here." The smile on his face widened as he slid back into and under the water. He shivered when the warmth enveloped him, and by the time he came back up, he'd completely woken up. "If you don't mind saving my butt if I start to drown, it'd be nice if we could watch it on those rocks by the gates."

The sardonic part of him was already complaining at the idea. He hadn't stopped to watch the sun either rise or set in... Well, quite a while. Most of the time he missed it because he was under the surface. Instead of voicing his reservations about the idea, he simply shrugged.

"Sure."

Eren could tell Levi wasn't that happy about watching the sunset with him, but he didn't seem upset so the brunet said nothing. Without looking back at the raven haired male, he took off, albeit slowly, to the gates where the park met the ocean. He wasn't going to let Levi's indifference mess with his mood.

Levi did notice the slight unease and then surprising resolve take over the brunet's face, but said nothing of it as he followed him a short distance behind. The metal gates that kept him from the open ocean were a place he didn't frequent, which was odd to say he visited everywhere else in the park that he could get to quite often. He didn't like being reminded that he was shut in, he supposed. Even though he'd done it to himself. Even if Hanji wasn't exactly keeping him prisoner.

Gingerly, he gripped the metal and stared through it at the waves. The eternal question of exactly what he thought he was achieving by sticking around stung at him and he pushed it away by tilting his head upward at the sun, breathing out a sigh.

"Are you okay, Levi?" Eren had turned around just in time to see the- was it sadness? - in the other man's eyes. He chewed on his lips, eyes darting toward the sun before letting out a small sigh. "I didn't mean to force you into something- we can go home. Missing one day wouldn't hurt." It would, at least for the brunet, but Levi didn't need to know that. 

"We all have our little problems, don't we.." Levi murmured, half to himself, before turning away from the sight of the open ocean, putting his back to it and the metal rails, and glancing sidelong at Eren. He couldn't fathom what the human could possibly hope to gain by trailing around him. He was too fast and not patient enough to be a good teacher... perhaps this had been a mistake. "It's nothing. Maybe Sasha should take over for you; I'm not exactly the best person to teach you how all this works."

"No!" Eren's grip on the gate railing tightened, and even though he didn't want to bother Levi, the fact that his idol was giving up on him after only a day made him want to scream. It was quiet for a moment before he began to talk again, and he frowned and looked down at Levi's tail in the water. "I mean- I know I'm not perfect, but I really was looking forward to being trained by you. And Sasha doesn't spend enough time in the water for that to work."

Eren's sudden intensity surprised him a little, and he stopped for a minute, the railings taking more of his weight as he observed Eren closely. Outlined against the changing sky something about the ordinary human looked strangely attractive, at least compared to the other people Levi interacted with. "Alright." he replied, tail swishing to create a small current that would disturb Eren and make him look up. He didn't like the frown on the human's face. "If that's what you want."

"It is." The brunet nodded his head to further drive his point, the ripples in the water making him look up. He couldn't help the self conscious smile that found its way onto his face when he looked at the blank stare on Levi's face. "If you don't mind."

"If I minded I wouldn't have agreed." As long as it was Eren he found that the idea of being trailed around wasn't that bad... perhaps. It had only been a day, barely that, and a day wasn't enough time to make decisions unless you were Hanji. There was something he wanted to do, though. "You're going to have to keep a secret, though." Risking another glance out at the ocean, he made his decision. If he could trust Eren with this then perhaps eventually there were other secrets he could trust him with. "Can you do that?"

Levi's question startled Eren and his mouth opened in surprise. Brows furrowing together in confusion, he frowned when he realized exactly what the other man said. "Um... I'm not sure if I should answer that truthfully or not? Like I wouldn't go around and tell people something you said in private, but are you sure you should tell me even if I said yes? We just met... “He shrugged.

Levi's smirk flashed a hint of unnaturally sharp teeth at that. It wasn't a _big_ secret but it was something he didn't think Hanji would approve of, necessarily. It was also an easy way to tell how much he might be able to trust Eren with things that actually mattered. "Out of the two of us, you're more likely to drown." he pointed out. "So I don't think I mind telling you some things. Plus it might sink Hanji's dumb dreams of romance if we don't at least make it look like we trust each other."

Eren chuckled, taking the dark undertone of the other man's voice as a joke. He was still a little on edge about what Levi was going to say, so it took him a second to register the word 'romance'. When it dawned on him he blushed, then brushed it off as the Valentine's Day scenes, and he tried to keep his response steady. "Well we can't ruin Hanji's vision now, can we?"

He relaxed more as the tense atmosphere from earlier turned into playful banter, and his voice lowered a little, a teasing tone lacing his words. "And if I drown, I'm taking you down with me..."

"You can try, sure." Levi replied, choosing to ignore the irony of a human threatening to drown _him_ for the moment. "But you won't get very far... and speaking of drowning, you should follow me. The water's a bit darker so try not to get lost, hm?" The sun was still relatively high but it was starting to go down and he was acutely aware of the fact that Eren didn't have his eyesight in low-light. He might need it. Slipping forward off the rocks he slid straight into the water, not turning around to see if Eren was following and as soon as he was under the surface Eren was close enough for him to get a feel for the water currents the human's movement made, bulky and awkward compared to his own minimal but efficient swimming.

When the other man slid back into the water and swam off, Eren had to scramble to follow him. Levi was fast-faster than Eren thought a human _could_ be- but he used the small current his tail made as a guide to where he was going. It was getting darker and he didn't trust his eyes. Despite how much he had to focus to keep up, the brunet let himself slip into awe at the way Levi moved and the way his scales glimmered under the water.

Coming to a particular spot in the thick, natural rock wall between the seawater of the natural bay and the walled off section of the 'tank' space, Levi was able to see a minute difference in the colour and texture of one of the larger rocks towards the bottom of the wall that would be invisible to the untrained eye. When moved, it made a hole big enough to swim through in order to reach the open sea beyond. Hanji didn't know about it, but he figured as long as he never let any of the other fauna they were trying to conserve escape then no harm done. It settled his mind to know he had an escape route.

Diving further down he hauled the rock out, gripping two worn hand-holds in the rock to uncover the short tunnel no more than a meter or two long before letting the rock sink to the sandy floor and disappearing down it, a brief glance backward checking Eren saw where he went. Another rock covering the entrance from the ocean side of the tunnel was pushed back as he swept his tail to provide momentum, clearing the way for Eren to follow him.

They went far enough down that Eren was almost swimming blind; his arms flailed about, feeling along the sides of the enclosure as he tried to follow Levi through the hidden space. They had been under long enough that he was starting to feel a little lightheaded. His lungs tightened and he prayed that they would go up for air soon, because he knew he was pushing his limits.

As soon as Eren was in open ocean, Levi put the rock that he'd pushed out of the way straight back. Eren was moving too unsteadily for his liking, though, his shark-like instincts picking up on the human's fluctuating heartbeat. He'd been underwater too long. Sliding one arm around Eren's waist he set off for the surface, knowing that they could just settle against the railings or the rock wall itself on the other side while Eren got himself back to normal levels of air. Levi remained in the water for now, though, only the top half of his head showing above the peacefully lapping waterline.

When Levi grabbed him, Eren's first instinct was to let out all off the air he'd managed to hold in out in a scream. The feeling of being caught made his heart race, and when the two breached the water, the brunet coughed up some water he had inhaled in his panic. He clutched at the rocky surface where the enclosure met the natural barrier of the lagoon, sputtering. "H-holy shit. That scared me..." Eren sucked in a breath, trying in vain to calm down.

"Sorry. You... ah... looked like you needed to surface for a while." Levi replied, swimming a little closer. Maybe he hadn't helped as much as he'd thought in trying to get Eren back to oxygen. "But yeah... this is the secret. Don't tell Hanji, hm?" He figured if Eren wanted some wide open space to practice in real conditions then this was the ideal place to do it.

He was still coughing, but he tried to shrug off the aftermath of breathing in liquid. "It's okay. Thanks." He looked around at the ocean in front of them and let out a gasp; there was nothing but ocean for miles, the view of the sunset was unobstructed and reflected beautifully in the water. Eren had to force himself to look away from the scene to look at Levi with the biggest smile on his face. "Can we come back tomorrow?"

"That's the idea, yeah." Eren's prolonged coughing at the amount of seawater he'd inhaled was an odd mixture of worrying and endearing, and he didn't know quite how to deal with those feelings yet so he quietly put them to one side. Being curious as to why Eren was always watching him when he visited was one thing, but Eren being by his side and feeling more than curiosity at the thought of him was quite another.

The brunet beamed with happiness, letting his eyes dart back to the sunset. His throat burned when he talked, but he didn't care. "I won't tell Hanji." Eren's voice was scratchy, but at least he's stopped choking. "How'd you find this place anyways?"

"I...” Levi trailed off, looking at Eren with hesitance in his eyes as he stopped himself telling the truth. He could hardly tell Eren that he'd originally lived on this side of the wall and only strayed into the enclosure because he owed Hanji a life debt. "It's a secret." With a small nod he pulled his eyes away, then, looking out over the ocean so that he wasn't distracted if Eren looked upset at his reluctance to explain properly.

Eren raised an eyebrow at Levi's sudden reluctance to share information, but he said nothing to give his thoughts away. He thought it was a bit weird how the other man acted now that he wasn't watching from far away. The sky was getting darker by the second, and Eren cocked his head to the side, splashing a bit of water towards Levi to get his attention. "So what do you wanna do now that we're out here?"

Ignoring the splash with an amused flick of his tail to return the favor, Levi's attention returned from the horizon to Eren as he spoke. "I don't mind. It's better outside that wall, is all... the water's less... stale." He hated looking over the wall and the railings at the open sea but he'd promised Hanji that he'd stay after how she'd found him, so this - going back out when Hanji wasn't there to stop him - was the only time he got to be here. "But it depends how experienced you are with the open ocean. Hanji will complain if I let you drown on my watch, in all seriousness." he added, smile crossing his face again as the sky kept darkening. Eventually the moon would take over and he knew he'd feel a lot better for it.

The brunet laughed when Levi flicked water back at him and nodded as he spoke. "Yeah, I haven't been out in open water in quite a while actually. Not since my mom passed." He sighed. "I should probably take it slow for now."

The mention of Eren's mother was unexpected and the thought made him shiver, the icy feeling that thoughts of his own mother always dredged up stabbing at him. The slow swish of his tail in the water became antsier, then, and he receded a little further under the surface desperately needing a distraction. "Well, let's just stay by the wall and not go deep. That way if you're tired, you can go back to perching against it till you're alright again." he suggested, watching the surface of passing waves turning odd colours as the setting sun hit them.(edited)

Noticing how Levi became uneasy when he mentioned his mother, Eren felt a twinge of guilt. It had happened so long ago, he had gotten used to pushing back his feelings and acting like it didn't hurt to talk about her. Hoping he wasn't overstepping his boundaries, the brunet kicked off the rocks to swim past Levi and let his side brush lightly against him. He could only assume by his demeanor that the other man wasn't someone who enjoyed personal contact, but it was the only thing he could think of to cheer him up.

The open ocean was a lot different to being on the other side of the wall. Normally he would put off returning to Hanji until the last second, not wanting to go back to being contained for anything except to honor the bond that had grown between the two of them. He had never forgotten how much he owed her despite the fact that he was sure that if he brought it up now, she'd laugh it off and tell him to forget about it. Today, though, the fact that he'd have to go back was strangely absent from being its normal weight on his mind. He wondered why until he felt Eren lightly brush against him and then swim ahead a little, growing less and less visible as the sun's last rays vanished and the ocean became murky. Eren was impossible to miss, though, his swimming making vibrations through the water. A small smile crossed Levi's face in the darkness and he moved to catch up as Eren swam away around the wall. If they kept going long enough they'd eventually hit beach, he supposed.

When he didn't feel Levi grab at him, Eren let out a sigh of relief. With the other man's reflexes he was almost certain there would have been a reaction of some sort. Whether his point came across or not barely registered as he continued to swim ahead. There was no point in making a big deal about the exchange and now that it was over, Eren was actually kind of embarrassed for rubbing against the other man's skin. It seemed a bit too intimate after the fact.

Levi hadn't made a move to lead the way, and since he had gotten to see the sunset Eren was content to just _swim_. The brunet slowed down when he was no longer with in grabbing distance, happy the water hadn't yet grown cold, and after a minute or two he decided to head up for air. It wasn't like there were people watching except Levi and he had worked hard to lengthen his breathing times. A break wouldn't hurt.

Having the opportunity to put everything else on a back burner more or less made Levi's awareness of anyone else fade into the realm of less important things. It wasn't until he saw Eren return to the surface out of the corner of his eye that he realized that it had been a while since he did - not that Eren would necessarily notice and even if he did, he could probably make an excuse or distract him. The thought made it easy for him to shrug Eren's absence off and push himself to go closer to the sea floor, feeling the pressure change at the increased depth. It wasn't like it would be hard for Eren to see him unless they were still out here when the water got significantly darker because they only had the moonlight to see by, but that would be a good time to head to the beach anyway. It wasn't like he could get out of the water and walk off like Eren could.

Eren broke the water and shivered when the air hit his skin. The sun was finally out of the sky completely, and the darkness setting in reminded him just how late it was. While there was a time when he would have been worried about getting home at a certain time, it had been a while since his father had stressed out when he didn't show up before dark. Now that he was twenty-three and in his fourth year of college, Grisha and he had taken on more of a roommate relationship than anything. Eren cleaned the house in place of rent and utilities, and as long as he maintained a 3.5 GPA, his father took care of his other expenses. Knowing that Levi could take care of himself and probably had years of experience on him, he started heading towards the beach across from them. The brunet was worried about being in the open water after dark and there was still the issue of getting back into the lagoon to get his keys and other clothes.

Noticing that the barely-there shadow Eren's body cast on the rocky sea floor had started to move away more significantly than if he were just drifting, Levi eventually looked up to see him swimming off towards the beach. The sigh that left him translated to a small stream of bubbles from his gills before a few powerful strokes of his tail had him catching up relatively quickly, having to get closer to the surface again as the sand sloped up slowly to reach the beach's level. Given the beach was almost solely bathed in moonlight Levi didn't feel as cautious as he would have been at pulling himself up onto the sand against the dragging tide so that he could sit next to Eren. He was usually wary of giving humans the chance to look at him up close, even as a 'performer' because it quickly became obvious that his tail didn't have any visible seam or way of taking it off and that was damning enough evidence on its own to oust him. Right now, though, he wasn't expecting Eren to pick up on it. "We're going to have to go back soon, if you're worried about being able to see."

Eren had closed his eyes when he reached the shore, leaning back on his arms and exposing his face to the sky. Goosebumps littered his visible skin, and he groaned at Levi's comment. "We probably should head back, but I'd like to sit for a while if you don't mind." One eye opened just a bit to seek out Levi's face and it took a lot out of him to not jump at just how close the other man was. If he wanted, it would be easy to touch Levi, and all confidence about physical contact flew out the window the second they were out of the water. He tensed and closed his eye again to block out the thought of their proximity. Accidentally brushing up against someone while swimming was one thing- caressing their wet bodies on the beach was a totally different story.

"It's fine." It wasn't like the darkness bothered Levi either way, and being exposed to moonlight only meant good things for real merfolk. There was very little distance between them and as much as Levi would like to think that didn't bother him much either, it was an unusual sensation given how much time he spent alone much in the way being alone all the time wasn't _lonely,_ until you realized the benefits of spending a lot of time with other people and your perception changed. "This is the best time of day, anyway. Everything's quiet and there's no idiots around."

He couldn't help but laugh. It was supposed to be quiet- more of a chuckle than anything- but his face turned red when he straight up _snorted_. Eren could feel his face burning, and he opened his eyes to look at Levi in horror. "I uh..."

Raising an eyebrow in Eren's direction with a slightly quizzical look that only lasted for a few seconds, Levi eventually broke out laughing himself. The resulting sound was entirely too musical to be human and a lot softer than would be expected if you'd heard Levi actually speak, and he only realized he was unconsciously using his rough equivalent of a siren song when thoughts about being idiotic led to thinking back to Hanji's stupid 'Valentine's day' event, cutting the sound short. The last thing he wanted was to make Eren think he was going to try to eat him.

His blush only intensified, and Eren found himself unintentionally leaning closer to hear Levi's laugh. It was beautiful, and oddly enough it reminded the brunet of the way he felt watching Levi swim. The sound was a lot gentler than he would have imagined much like the graceful sweeps of Levi's tail as he moved through the water. It strangely suited his rough demeanor, and Eren felt a strange sense of satisfaction and pride at making the other man make such a sound.

Levi didn't notice how much closer Eren had got over the span of a few seconds and leant back slightly in surprise when he did. This was what he got for using his siren song on anything other than keeping fish close enough to snatch out of the water. The thought that Eren liked it brought a slight blush to his face to echo the human's and he frowned at it, unfamiliar with the sensation. "You alright?" He wanted to say _don't look at me like that_ but it was highly likely Eren didn't even know he had such a dazed, flustered look on his face.

Levi's comment was what snapped Eren out of his pseudo-trance. His eyes widened in surprise and he jumped back, trying to get out of the other man's space. Staring down at his hands, he frowned. While he didn't realize he had gotten so close, the fact alone didn't bother him. After a moment, he lifted his eyes, ashamed a little with his feelings. "Uh, yeah. I'm good." He did his best to meet Levi's eyes and smile. "Just a bit startled. Sorry for getting so close..."

"It's okay." It wasn't like Eren had a conscious choice in the matter so the invasion of his personal space wasn't something he could hold against him, despite it being the one thing he was notorious about being prickly over to everyone else who knew him. He couldn't tell Eren what had happened without obviously bad questions coming up, though. "If I'm not trying to bite you it's obviously not like I mind. I could have moved further away any time." Now that there was more of a gap between them he felt a little bit colder, shivering as he moved his gaze from Eren's face to the moon and then closed his eyes altogether, feeling the slight tingle that came with soaking up moonlight as the tip of his tail swished through shallow water.

He wasn't sure how to take the news that being close to Levi didn't bother the other man, and the fact the he had even realized their proximity before Eren had and didn't move away made the brunet's chest tighten just a little. He had come into this job knowing he had a small crush, but didn't think twice of how it would affect his training, and now he was regretting letting Hanji find out about it just a little bit. Eren didn't know if she was just playing with his feelings, but it didn't feel like it and the hope that had sparked in his heart felt a little cruel given the fact that he was too awkward of a person to purposefully push boundaries. How was he going to last a week of training if he was having trouble on his first damn day?

There was a long moment of total silence from Eren, and while a lack of any initial response didn't bug Levi too much it was a different story when he actually glanced over at the brunet. Eren looked a lot more troubled than before about something, clearly lost in his thoughts. If Eren was going to come out here and put himself at risk swimming at night in open water with him he may as well pay him more attention instead of getting cooped up inside his head. There were certain things Levi felt okay invading other people's space for, after all. A small smirk curved his mouth as he reached up and gingerly poked Eren's cheek, leaning close enough against him that their sides were touching. "Oi, Eren. Are you alive in there?"

The sensation of Levi's finger on his cheek forced the ugliest, high pitched yelp from Eren's throat, and he swiveled around to look at the offender. His heart rate sped up significantly, and he was ready to bolt until he realized it was just Levi. He placed his hand over his chest out of reflex, panting from the shock. "I thought we agreed there wouldn't been any more surprises today."

It only really occurred to him when Eren reacted with that amount of shock exactly how blind Eren was in the dark compared to him, and he smiled affectionately, relaxing safe in the knowledge that there was a safe chance Eren couldn't see the look on his face. Eren might be skittish and it might be funny to surprise him, but most of the time it was endearing to watch, too. "Sorry." he replied, not really sounding apologetic. "I didn't expect it to surprise you that much."

"I honestly don't believe you with the amount of times you've come up behind me today." He raised an eyebrow now that he was starting to calm down. "I mean, it's probably my fault for getting startled so easily." Eren leaned in a little closer to whisper. "But it sure feels like you just like me to scream."

"Oh, does it really?" He hadn't missed out on the fact that Eren had leant closer, resting his hand back on the sand between them now that he wasn't planning on prodding the brunet again. Getting his attention was easy enough. "Good job you don't seem to have a problem being a screamer then, hm?" he added, purposefully pitching his voice lower as he leant close enough to gently touch his forehead to Eren's for a few seconds. If scaring Eren was funny making him flustered was even more amusing but he'd rather not let anyone else find out about that.

He missed out on the implications of what Levi said until the other man leaned in to bump their foreheads together. A small gasp left his lips and when Levi tried to pull away some impulsive part of Eren got the better of him. Without thinking of the consequences, the brunet went forward to catch the other man's lips in his as he leaned away. Levi lips tasted like salt water and were colder than Eren's but they felt _right_ to him, and all the tension left his body when Levi didn't push away. It was just a simple peck, but the happiness Eren felt was just a intense, and a few seconds later, he leaned back to look Levi in the eyes.

The realization of his actions hit hard when he saw the blank stare on Levi's face, and the guilt and panic were all back at full force. "Fuck." Breathing in, his voice lowered, and his eyes darted around as he tried to stand. " _Fuck._ " When he finally scrambled to his feet, he looked down at Levi once more, confusion on the other man's face, the tears started pooling. Levi hadn't said anything, and that just cemented what he was feeling in the moment.

The impulsive Eren was back. He ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOYOYOYOYO HEy GUYS c: It's been a while! Mysti and I both got a break so we're back!!! The next chapter should be out soon ^^ Its already been started and both of us are giving it a lot of attention. Also if its scattered, we worte this in like 3 spurts spanning months...sorry
> 
> As always comments feed the writers! Give us some feedback- the cringe took a lot out of us...


	5. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Eren running off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the V-Day chapter is next :DDD

To say Levi hadn't expected Eren to kiss him had been an understatement but the feeling wasn't particularly one he disliked. The disorientation that came with it had him stalling for too long and he didn't really have any hope of calling Eren back once he'd turned away to run off, and instead Levi was left on the sand, sighing. Eren was clearly upset at the show of affection but he couldn't understand why. He hadn't rejected Eren- not that he knew why, but the fact remained that he hadn't - so it made no sense for the brunet to just run off like that.

Hanji would have the answers but he'd put it off for now, and the lack of Eren tagging along meant that he could enjoy what was left of the night without having to keep appearances in mind. With the experience safely filed to the back of his mind for now he pushed himself back into the water, disappearing beneath the waves for good with a powerful flip of the tail.

He could make his way back to the gap in the wall later but now he definitely had to start preparing for that 'Valentine’s Day' thing given what had happened with Eren. He also still had to trust that Eren wouldn't tell anyone that he was able to sneak out of the enclosed waters of the park at night and that was probably harder to think about at the moment as far as he was concerned.

~

Eren walked up to the familiar gate of the park with a feeling of unease. He'd had plenty of time to punish himself for his actions when he'd gotten home the previous night and that morning, but he still couldn't imagine having to face Levi after pulling that stunt the night before. After spending well into the morning replaying his mistake in his head, the brunet was trying very hard not to fall asleep where he stood. He bit his lip as he walked through the door, thankful that his shift didn't start until the park was already open. Not having his keys was just one of the many things he hadn't thought through before running off.

No one paid any attention to him as he shuffled along to the performer lounge and costume area hoping someone had realized that the things left by the small pool were his and put them on his desk. He still hadn't been able to come up with an excuse as to why he'd left the building without his clothes and other belongings, and was too lost in thought on trying to come up with one that he didn't notice Hanji coming up to greet him.

"Hello, Lover Boy!" Hanji greeted cheerfully, clapping Eren on the back. She'd found some of his belongings by the poolside but figured that he'd stayed a little longer than usual with Levi and then something had ultimately happened to scare him off. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. Eren looked kind of lost and she wanted to cheer him up before another day started. "Levi didn't bully you too much last night, did he?"

As always, his inability to control his volume when startled led to embarrassment. Eren screamed at the sudden contact with his back, and the blush forming turned even darker when he registered Hanji's words. His voice lowered to barely a whisper as he looked down at his shoes."He told you?"

"Hm? Oh, no, he hasn't told me what he's planning for Valentine’s yet." Hanji announced cheerfully, chuckling as Eren recovered from being startled. "But it's definitely something. He only naps out on the rocks like that when he's been up all night plotting." She'd seen Levi napping in the shade close to the boundary wall, a regular spot when he wanted to sleep without being disturbed by tourists because he'd felt like being nocturnal the day before.

"Oh...so he didn't ask for Sasha to be my teacher?" Eren had been genuinely worried that he would given their conversation yesterday, and he sighed in relief. Even though he was terrified of Levi hating him for the kiss, some part of him hoped the man would still continue being his teacher regardless of those feelings. It was selfish, he knew, but it wouldn't feel right if any of the other performers trained him.

Blinking, Hanji raised an eyebrow at him. He was acting very odd this morning and she couldn't place why there was any reason for him to as this clearly wasn't the response of someone Levi had been unduly cruel to the previous day. "No? Why would he?" Given he'd actually seemed to take to Eren quite well even with his little game of chase with Sasha, she wasn't expecting Levi to want to give him up any time soon. "Levi can be quite possessive when he decides he likes things. It's cute, really."

Eren blushed and tried to change the direction of the conversation. Hanji didn’t know how much the simple thought of Levi liking him made him feel."Oh uh, I haven't been to the lounge yet. Do you know if someone found my things yet? I had to leave in a hurry last night, and I kind of forgot to get everything..."

"Oh, yeah, I found them earlier so it's fine." Hanji replied, shrugging. "Everything's back safely in your locker but you're going to need your keys back to get into it." Fishing Eren's keys from her pocket she held them out to him. Hopefully the fact that Levi hadn't made a point of demanding she put Eren with someone else meant they were going to be fine from now on.

Grabbing his keys, he smiled. "Thanks! And sorry for the inconvenience." He was curious as to why Hanji was so calm about what had happened. Leaving your things around was unprofessional and weird considering it meant he went home in swim shorts, but he shrugged it off. "Am I just training again today outside of the lagoon like yesterday until dark?"

"You can, if that's useful to you." Hanji didn't have anything specific for him to do at the moment but she was already planning more specific things for him to do after Valentine’s Day. "Really you just need to get used to the area and being underwater all day." She was fairly confident that if he picked that up fast everything else would follow. "Although Levi might have something more specific in mind if you want to go ask him."

His smile faltered just a little at the thought of seeing Levi, but he pushed past it. “Okay. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Eren had been excited the day before but he didn't seem like it now, and that brought concern to Hanji's face as she gently squeezed his shoulder. "Eren are you okay? We can reassign you if you don't want to be around Levi for a while, you know. I understand that he's a bit...blunt, at times." She wouldn't want a bad experience with any of the others to put Eren off doing something he clearly enjoyed.

The brunet's eyebrows furrowed, "No, Levi didn't do anything." Eren didn't want Hanji to find out about what he'd done, especially if Levi had been kind enough to keep it a secret, but he also didn't want the blame to be shifted to the other man. "And he's a wonderful teacher. I'd like to stay with him if it's still possible. I'm just a bit tired." To drive in his point, he gave Hanji the biggest smile he could muster and shrugged. "I had a long night."

Eren was definitely the first person to ever describe Levi's teaching style as 'wonderful' but Hanji was happy to let the oddity slide. Although he certainly didn't act that way to anyone else she'd seen Levi's softer side for herself and perhaps during the time spent with Levi since they were introduced, Eren had been able to catch a glimpse of it as well. Having someone to pair Levi off with also suited her just fine. "Well, alright. Take it easy out there, okay?" she replied, waving him off. "You still have a few more days to get familiar with the layout and depths around the lagoon space."

"I will, thanks!" He nodded, and waved back as he continued on his way to the lounge. Hanji was a busy woman, and Eren still needed to retrieve his things. Besides his clothes and keys, he'd also left his laptop at the park, and since there was nothing to _actually_ do besides visit with the performers until closing, he was planning on getting ahead in school so he could spend more time focusing on his work there.

~

When closing time came around, Eren was left alone in the lounge to get ready for his lessons with Levi. Unlike yesterday, the other man didn't come to get him, and Eren had made the decision to not run away from his training no matter how awkward it might be so he quickly stripped down to his swim trunks and got to work. The day had been a bit hotter than yesterday and the water was still warm when it touched his skin, but the anxiousness was still a knot in his stomach.

Levi had spent the whole day more or less close to a small, partly shaded outcropping of rocks that were rested almost against the wall separating the lagoon water from the wider ocean outside, not that far off from where the hidden gap in the wall was that he'd shown Eren the day before. His spot was still within sight of one of the paths most commonly used by staff, though, so that Hanji could find him and get close enough to talk if necessary. He'd been napping on and off, tired from what he'd been up to the previous night after Eren suddenly left.

The abruptness of his absence was been more surprising than the kiss itself. Levi knew what kisses were for as far as merfolk were concerned, of course, but humans? That was a different story, given how much of a mystery to him their culture was. He'd never seen Hanji kiss anyone and he wasn't about to bring it up in discussion either. The Valentine’s Day thing was cute, he supposed, and the closest thing Levi had heard about to the concept of a human mating season, but it seemed a bit ridiculous to have a mating season that lasted only a single day if it was a real equivalent. That would mean the fate of Eren's whole species rested on that one day per year and if humans ran away from each other immediately after kissing that just complicated the whole thing needlessly.

He'd just have to see what happened when and if Eren came to find him today, and use that to roughly gauge the meaning of the brief kiss they'd shared. It couldn't have meant that much to him if Eren didn't discuss it again now he'd had chance to calm down, after all.

After waiting a few more minutes with no sign of the other man showing himself, Eren sighed and dunked his head, swimming through the water logged tunnel out to the lagoon. He took his time, focusing more on staying collected than finding his quickly, but eventually he saw the other man lounging against some rocks. He looked as good as ever, the gold light from the sun reflecting beautifully of his pale skin, and before the brunet got close enough to be seen, he sank deeper until his nose and mouth was submerged and let out one last sigh. The bubbles that were made were enough to calm his nerves, and he suppressed the giggle as he swam over to meet Levi on the rocks.

Levi's eyes were closed but he heard the swish of water as Eren swam closer, a small smile returning at the sound. Eren seemed to make him unusually happy for a human but he wasn't going to question that too deeply at this point, the brunet seemed to make everyone around him happier in general. Resting his head on folded arms, he wiggled over onto his front to observe Eren, catlike slit pupils narrowing on him as he got closer. "Hello, Eren."

When he finally made it to the area, he pulled himself out of the water to sit up by Levi. He wasn't nearly close enough to tough him, and he was gratefully there was plenty of room on the rocks. "You didn't tell Hanji about what I did." Despite his unease, hearing the other man's voice made him smile, and he tilted his head to the side to try and hide it. "Thanks."

Eren seemed an odd mix of tense and relaxed by turns, and Levi could do little else but watch and wonder at it, aside from mentally add it to his list of descriptors for the human aside from 'skittish'. He was a lot further away this time, Levi noticed, but he chose not to point it out for now. If this was how Eren was comfy then that was up to him. "Should I have done? Hanji would have made far too much unnecessary noise if I'd told her, anyway...”

Forcing himself to meet Levi's gaze, Eren's expression turned a bit more serious, his words spilling out too fast. “I’m sorry. For last night. I shouldn't have kissed you. It was uncalled for and unprofessional, and I shouldn't have let a crush get the better of me." He frowned. "Hanji asked if I wanted to be trained by someone else."

"Oh, is that what it was?" Levi blinked, shrugging. If Eren had been this tense around Hanji earlier then it only made sense that she'd probably assumed he'd made Eren uncomfortable somehow. He had managed it with everyone else... or... almost everyone else. Marco and Sasha were either deliberately ignorant of people in antisocial moods or encountering them made the humans more determined to lift the grumpy person's spirits so Levi's usual sarcasm and bluntness hadn't scared either of them off in the slightest during their respective first meetings. "Well, your emotions haven't affected your professionalism so far, so... if you want to stay with me, by all means tell Hanji not to swap you around."

"Really? You'll still train me?" His voice was a little too loud for his liking, but Eren couldn't hide his excitement. Levi didn't seem like the kind of person who would disregard his own feelings to satisfy the newbie, so Eren was confident that he hadn't angered the man as much as he originally thought. "You're not grossed out that I, uh," a blush crept onto Eren's face and his ears burned, "kissed you."

"I'll still train you." Levi confirmed, propping his chin against an upturned hand as he watched Eren get a little more energetic and back to normal again at the news. He wasn't grossed out so much as completely nonplussed by the sudden kiss, having not noticed any signs that would qualify to him as Eren showing a definite interest in him, specifically. "And I don't see why something like that should be gross aside from the obvious infection risk. Crushes are only temporary, after all." At least that was his understanding of it based on Hanji cooing over others who'd had 'crushes' on people. Usually other staff.

Hoping not to embarrass himself any further than he already had, Eren didn't comment on Levi's interpretation of his crush. It hurt a little for it to not be taken seriously, but if it meant that they could continue their relationship, it was worth the hit to his pride. "So what now?

"Now... you still need to work on a few things." Although, he was perfectly happy if Eren just wanted to spend his free time swimming around. All the time he spent in the water counted as practice as far as Levi was concerned. "Not that I expect you to be able to hold your breath as long as the rest of us, and the like...but there's definitely room to improve."

Eren beamed, shaking his head. With nothing else to do but wallow in his embarrassment, he had spent a good four or five hours practicing the previous night in his pool. “No, I’m definitely gonna be able to stay under with you guys by the time I get my tail.” Without seeing if Levi was paying attention,, he stood up and jumped back into the water, immediately coming back up to issue his challenge. “Just wait- I’ll be swimming circles around you by fall!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOYOYOYO GUYS SO LIKE I'M DOING EMERGENCY ART COMMISSIONS SINCE I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FOR MY ELECTRIC BILL!!! I NEED $150 BY JUNE 1st ^^; 
> 
> http://mastia.tumblr.com/post/126228929413/additional-items-characters-sketch-50-half
> 
> ALL COMMISSIONS ARE 50% OFF!!! I DO MORE THAN ERERI/SNK (THO IT'S MY FAVE) INCLUDING THE MIRACULOUS FANDOM, VOLTRON, actually pretty much anything but I'm sketching out Miraculous Ladybug and Voltron rn lol-  
> also my art had gotten better so if you want some preview sketches of my current style just hit me up!!!
> 
> YOU CAN CONTACT ME HERE OR ON TUMBLR http://mastia.tumblr.com/ask From there we can chat on discord or skype/email ccc:


	6. Valentine's Day: Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Splitting this into two parts so you guys can read sooner c: Next chapter we see the full surprise!

It had taken a few days for Hanji and Sasha to plot everything, especially when they were evenly split on how much of the plan to tell Levi... or Eren, for that matter. Not every performer actually had a partner in the water which meant they'd have a good mix of people giving the visitors something to watch or just drawing attention to themselves and living up the more siren-like aspects of merfolk because they were 'single', for all intents and purposes.

What made this one different was that Levi had never participated before, always watching from a distance impassively and disappearing if they tried to rope him into anything. Now Hanji had an excuse, given he'd been tutoring Eren naturally he should be the one to help him make his actual debut.

"Are you going to tell me what you wanted me for, yet?" Levi's deadpan startled her and she knelt down next to the water with a grin that he already didn't trust, having made the trip into the staff-only lagoon area to talk to her. "Yeah. We're gonna need you to make a little... stage magic. With Eren." He was already frowning but he hadn't cut her off, which suggested she had at least a little bit more wiggle room to test. "I have a plan." Bending further over the water, she explained it all in a whisper in case anyone else came in.

Levi's face went from mildly interested to peeved in record time, mostly at the idea that Hanji had come up with something like what she'd asked for and then planned everything ahead of time as if he'd already agreed, all without even seeking his input. "No. He'll just get... confused."

"Awe, but Levi... you haven't been center of attention for so long. And you know he's cute." Hanji pouted and he sighed, hating the guilt he felt when he was on the end of that look. Like he was drowning a puppy.

"Cuteness has nothing to do with it," he ground out, fins churning the water with irritation. "Oh, fine. But you owe me."

"Whatever your grumpy little heart desires, Levi. As long as you do this for me." Hanji was evidently considering hugging him and he scooted further back from the edge to avoid it.

"You're welcome."

~

A couple of days passed without any more issues or exceptionally embarrassing moments for Eren. Levi hadn't brought up anything more about the kiss or the brunet's crush, and he was thankful, but it still remained at the back of his head when the other man got too close or said something even slightly suggestive. The morning before Hanji had informed him that his tail would be ready today, and he had a bounce to his step when he walked through the doors to the park. The fact that it was Valentine's Day didn't even register until he looked around and noticed all of the decorations.

Heart shaped balloons and banners were strung about, and Eren chuckled. Of course Hanji would be into the cheesy aspect of the holiday. Hell, he probably should have expected worse considering the amount of hype for the holiday everyone had shown the last few days. What he didn't expect, was to be whisked away by Sasha when he had made it past the ticket checkpoint.

She dragged him through the halls, practically beaming with excitement, and Eren's eyebrows rose with concern. He hadn't seen her this excited since Connie had tried to woo her with a homemade cake. "What's wrong Sasha?" He failed to recognize the hall that they were going through since it was the opposite direction of the lagoon pool. "Where are you taking me?"

"Nothing's _wrong_ , Eren, today is a good day!" Sasha replied cheerily, guiding him off to a back corner where they kept the out-of-the-way storage. It also happened to be where Hanji had kept something else she'd prefer only a limited number of people to know about given it was supposed to be a secret for the next few hours. Opening the door she practically dragged Eren through it in her enthusiasm, wiggling through and around piles of boxes and cooling units to get to a long, rectangular box laid out on a desk, a good luck card from Hanji standing open on the top.

"Your tail got here just in time... and that's not the only thing Hanji has managed to do. Levi's agreed to take part in all the fun today and it's probably the first time he's done that in like... years. Normally he just kinda hangs around away from people and broods through it."

"My tail?!" Eren was practically vibrating where he stood, too excited to catch the implications of what Sasha meant. The box itself was pretty plain, more for safety and storage of the tail than a prelude to what was inside. His eyes bore into the box. "What does it look like?"

Beaming widely at Eren perking up, she shrugged. "I dunno, Hanji's been keeping it a secret from everyone what she ordered... but she normally does that for new people. It's just as much a surprise for all of us as it's going to be for the park guests." Stepping back from the box, she picked up the scissors Hanji had left behind on the desk and held the handle side out to Eren. "You can open it, though, now you're here."

Grabbing the scissors, Eren didn't take any extra time to butcher the box. As per usual, his inability to open packaging showed in the way he ripped and sawed at the various creases. Cardboard was strewn about all over the floor by the time he was finished, but by the time he finally unearthed his tail, he was too happy to care that he had a lot to clean up. The tail itself was beautiful with silver and black rings alternating to mimic the pilot fish, but the almost iridescent quality of the silver made it feel more ethereal than an actual fish. He couldn't wait to see how it shimmered in the water.

Eren's hand stroked the material and smiled. "It's wonderful. And Levi was right about what design she was going to give me..."

Eren had thoroughly destroyed the box but Sasha didn't mind all that much, making a start on at least an attempt to clean up as no doubt unless she was feeling especially up to it Hanji probably wouldn't do it straight away and then there would be tripping hazards for everyone who came in.

"Oh, was he? You know... I haven't actually spent that much time talking to him, he seems like he's one of those that likes being lonely. And I never seem to be in while he's not in his tail and in the water, so... it's not like we talk outside work...” Sasha mused, watching Eren unearthing his new tail with genuine happiness. He was nice and she was glad to have someone new to work with every now and then.

"Yeah, I would really love to see what his life is like outside of the lagoon. I just can't imagine him with legs." Eren giggled, pulling the tail out from the box, "So where are we headed next?"

Sasha could only really hope that they'd managed to have their conversation and that Hanji and Levi weren't in the lagoon anymore, but there was one more thing to stall for time with. "Well, we can head to the lagoon so you can try your tail out." she suggested. "And on the way we can discuss where you and Levi fit into the little show for the people walking around. Hanji said something about special effects but I have no idea what's going on with that...”

Standing up, the brunet brushed off his pants and picked up the tail to carry along with them. "Special effects?" He was game for trying out his tail, though the fact that Levi wouldn't be there to see him try swimming in it for the first time left him a bit disappointed. He tried not to let it show in his voice, though, purposefully acting a bit more cheery than usual.

"Yeah. So... since a lot of people saw that thing the other day with me 'rescuing' you from Levi, and we have a fair amount of regulars," Eren used to be included in the number of regulars too so she supposed he was quite a familiar face already. "that means we're doing something a bit different this time. We're going to get Levi to like... turn you into a merperson, as far as our audience is aware. Which I think is what the special effects are for."

"Turn me _into_ a mermaid..." Eren's mind went into a million different directions at once to understand or come up with an idea on just how that would happen. Hanji hadn't told him of this, but surely she wouldn't have left Levi out of the loop since he had been working there for so long. Levi had never- not _once_ , pegged Eren for someone who went along with something weird or put the spotlight on himself, so the brunet was left with no clue on what was coming.

"Well, yeah. That's how the stories go, isn't it? When a mermaid and a human fall in love eventually one side changes so they can shack up. Only... obviously Levi's far too grumpy to be a mermaid so I have no idea what's gonna happen there." Sasha chuckled, turning the last corner to the lagoon to find it thankfully deserted and then moving over to her locker. "Should be fun."

The blood drained from Eren's face, his voice cracking. "Shack up?"

"Yeah... you know? Get it on? Happily ever after? Although if you two start sucking face in front of the kids we're going to get in trouble." she added, poking Eren's side playfully before starting to pack things away into her locker so that she could get changed. Being female she had a lot more makeup and waterproofing to do before getting in the water. Most of the guys just put a bit of eyeliner and painted some scale patterns on and were done.

Eren turned beet red and he wasn't sure if the blush was ever going to go away. The more Sasha kept talking the deeper the blush got. He wanted to sink into the water and never get out. Clearing his throat, he tried to regain his composure. "You just caught me off guard with the wording, is all." He shook his head again. “But what makes you guys think we could pull off that type of performance anyways? Being so in love one person changes their fucking _species_ is pretty extreme. And we've known each other for less than a month."

"Well, yeah. The guys who are watching don't know that though, and it's not going to have to necessarily be done for love." The other biggest quality merpeople were known for in fiction was their fickleness, after all. "Knowing Levi he could also make it look like he did it just to spite you because you were annoying. Certainly beats him drowning you, anyway." Sasha replied, watching him in the mirror of her compact as she started on her makeup.

Eren rolled his eyes, sarcasm filtering into his words. "You don't know our kinks. Maybe he likes that kind of shit."

Sasha choked on air at the idea, whipping her head around to look at Eren with widened eyes. She didn't particularly want to think about either of them like that and really hoped Eren was joking but he was hard to tell these things from at first glance. "Oh my god, Eren, you're like... taking years off my life with the traumatic mental images." she snorted, biting her lip as she tried to focus on what she was doing before Eren nearly made her look like the possessed girl from The Exorcist. "How am I supposed to talk to Levi with a straight face now? Like 'oh hey Levi I hear you get off to the drowning screams of your lovers.' that's not going to end well."

Eren couldn't help but choke on his own spit, he was laughing so hard. "Honestly, I would pay good money to see his face if you said that.”

"I don't think I can swim away fast enough, to be honest." Sasha replied, barely containing her laughter for long enough to get coloured eyeliner on without smudging it. It wasn't going to take her that long to get it all done given that she was so used to it and before long she was waving a bottle of waterproofed fixing spray around herself to get the makeup to set and be safe to swim in. Her tail was kept in a longer locker just below the one for her belongings and she didn't take all that long to bring it over to the water and wiggle into it. "Seriously though... I hope you're good at changing into stuff quickly."

Eren raised an eyebrow as he followed Sash over to the pool and once her tail was on, he got to work getting into his own. It was harder than he imagined with as skin tight as it was, but having Sasha there to help stuff him into it helped. He didn't bother putting on any of the makeup since this was more of a trial run before the performance, but once they were both prepared, Eren brought it up. "So did you guys decide my makeup and jewelry too or do I get to pick? Fair warning but accessories are not my forte."

"Nah, that's all up to you." Sasha replied, shrugging. Most of her jewelry was seashell related or made of leather cord or rope that looked like she could have scavenged it from shipwrecks but durable enough that it wasn't going to be damaged by the exposure to water. The most uncomfortable thing was the contacts that made her pupils look more slit and catlike. "You have to be comfortable swimming in what you pick... most of the guys tend to be fairly low key on the accessory front." One or two didn't bother at all and only had scales painted on here and there instead.

"Oh, well then I'll have to look into pilot fish then and some more lore." He grinned, content with the way his new tail sliced through the water. It was a lot less powerful than Levi, and quite a bit clumsier but it was way better than when he used his legs. His friends had wanted a say in what his makeup would look like, and so he'd probably get a hold of Mikasa and Armin when he got home. "Would it be cheesy if I wore a shark tooth or something since Levi and I are supposed to be a couple? My mom bought me one when I was little and I still have it."

"Nah, that would make sense, actually." Normally it would be a little cheesy, he was right... but he was essentially being Levi's pilot fish so in his case it made a lot of sense. Eren looked like he was getting the hang of it more or less straight away, though, which was good, and it hadn't taken him long to actually get into the tail properly so it seemed  like everything was going to go with few complications if Levi played along as much as he was supposed to.

"I'll bring it in tomorrow then." Eren smiled, turning around to float on his back. It was crowded because the two of them hadn't left the waiting pool yet, but he couldn't help himself. "Are we just gonna wait here for a signal or something?" As much as the brunet wanted to go out into open water, he knew there was too much risk is ruining whatever Hanji had planned.

"Hanji will come get you when we start but till then you can have fun here." Sasha replied, getting herself reacquainted with the feeling of water under her. "We'll grab whatever clothes you strip off later so you'll definitely get everything back." Hopefully it wasn't going to be that long, there had been enough time for the majority of performers to at least turn up if they weren't already out in the water. "Don't worry about it, it'll be fun."

Waving to him she swam off in the direction of the short tunnel to the deeper water outside, planning on spending her time swimming around  getting people's attention since while certain performers were paired up not everyone was and there had to be at least a few of them living up to the siren part of mermaid lore.

 Eren waved back, splashing water towards Sasha as she left. "See you in a bit." When she was gone, he couldn’t help but fidget at the thought of what was to come. Sinking under water, he let the cool lquid warm the burn on his cheeks and ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mysti is still being secretive :'D I wanna know wha tthe surprise isssss
> 
> As always, comments are appreciated c:


	7. Valentine's Day: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The surprise is finally revealed.

It was about a half an hour later when Eren decided he had had enough fun with his new tail; he had gotten used to the restrictions of not using his legs separately, and he smiled as he hoisted himself out of the pool and pulled the costume off. The past couple of days of swimming with Levi, he'd been practicing having his ankles tied together, the need to to keep up with his mentor playing a huge role in how fast he settled into the new way of swimming.

With a sigh, he laid his tail out before moving to his station to dry off. He wasn't sure when Hanji was supposed to arrive, but he took what time he had to look over all of the things that had been placed in the drawers of his desk. To make sure that everything was safe for the performers and the environment, the company provided all makeup and any other products that he would need. There wasn't much, since they hadn't planned out his 'look' yet, but the basics were piled neatly in one of the larger drawers.

Reading over the products, he found a foundation that matched his skin pretty well, a few colours and types of eyeliner, an unused pack of body paint that the performers used, and some things for waterproofing. He knew that most of the other guys didn't really bother with a lot of the makeup, but on the chance he chose to do something a little more flashy, Hanji would be the person to talk to about getting what he needed.

Eren was sending out a snapchat of the haul when Hanji bounded up behind him.

"Eren! Are you ready to go?" Hanji was excitedly bouncing on her heels as she walked over to him, a clipboard in hand, quiet radio chatter from the security staff coming and going from the two-way radio at her hip. Given that there was a larger event on throughout the park and there was the odd chance that the audience might get closer to the performers than usual as they'd be out for longer at a time, she was happy to have the extra support. "I hope Sasha hasn't spoilt the surprise too much!" She laughed.

The brunet had gotten somewhat used to his boss's way of sneaking up on people, so he didn't jump when she startled him, but it did take him a moment to answer. "She mentioned that we're doing affects but not much else..." Eren's face lit up. "Oh and my tail is perfect, by the way! I love it!"

"Good." Eren seemed to be getting used to her creeping up on people, which was a good thing. As long as he wasn't ruining her fun by catching her before she could announce herself like Levi did, the spoilsport. "Come on, then. Time for you to go become a beautiful butterfly... or rather, mermaid. Merdude? I dunno, whatever works for you." Ushering him away from the makeup she paused to get his tail given she needed to deliver it to a certain someone else so that Eren could actually get it on when he needed to, moving to lead him out of the staff areas and towards the crowds congregating at the rocks where most of the other performers had gathered to interact with them. She wasn't going to ask how Levi's apparently limited command of sea-magic worked but in times like this she was glad it did. It was going to be an interesting show.

Luckily, since Hanji didn’t give him any time to change, he had already pulled on a pair of swim trunks. They mimicked the design of his tail fairly well, with black and white horizontal stripes, and Eren was glad that he had taken Levi's insight on Hanji's taste in tails seriously. It made him all the more excited to start whatever Hanji had planned knowing that the transition from legs to tail would feel more thought out. 

"So I know this is a secret- Sasha made that pretty clear- but what do I need to do?" He really didn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of his mentor or the crowd.

"You just need to act like a normal person exploring the rocks, Eren." Hanji replied, noticing the slight tightness in the way Eren carried himself that suggested he was starting to have last minute shakiness. "Everyone else knows what they're doing, and you'll hear me up on the sound system giving pointers... all you have to do is play along. Especially with Levi, when he turns up." 

Resting her hands on his shoulders, she gave them a gentle squeeze as she guided him in the direction of some steps that would lead to a gated entryway just out of sight for the crowd so he could get out onto the pebbly shoreline around one end of the rocky outcroppings framing the large lagoon the performers frequented. "If he doesn't turn up I'm going to turn him into a fish skewer..." she muttered, her expression darkening for all of half a minute as she considered the possibility before brightening again. 

Levi had agreed, so she was pretty sure he'd show. It wasn't like there were many places he could hide. "Anyway... you'll be great, just don't think about it too much. See you later!" She added, scurrying off again so she could situate herself on one of the lifeguard towers to provide running commentary for the social experiment that was about to happen.

She knew it was easier said than done when telling Eren to not overthink the whole thing, but she couldn't really make it any clearer to him without giving the entire game away, and she might not get honest reactions out of him if she did that...which wouldn't be half as much fun to watch.

Trying to take Hanji's advice to heart, Eren let out a huge sigh and patted himself in the cheeks to calm himself down. His nerves were running high, but then he thought about seeing Levi and the hope that the other man would be proud took over and gave him some confidence. He was reminded about just what the holiday meant when he walked over to the crowd and spotted Connie giving he a thumbs up and making kissy faces. Leave it to the guy to tease him at a time like this.

Of course, Connie had picked up on the brunet's crush on Levi long before Eren was even aware of it himself, and when he'd told him about his new job, his bald friend had decided be his own personal cheerleader regarding the matter. Eren rolled his eyes and returned the thumbs up before scooting closer to the rail that separated the performers' part of the beach and the area the visitors were allowed to sit. There was a surge of people pushing up against him to get a view of the performers a minute later, and with Hanji apparently too busy to hold his hand through the experience, he sighed and sealed his fate.

Moving purposefully, Eren maneuvered in between the gaps in the fence until he was completely on the ‘employees only’ side. He remembered Hanji mentioning the rocks so he pretended to shift interest to where the beach turned into rougher terrain and deeper water. He saw Sasha and some of the other performers swimming around, but since he didn't see Levi as of yet, he decided to stay out of the water until further notice. 

Hanji managed to jog her way up the wooden steps of the tower fast enough to be in place as Eren started to edge out, having had to stop to unlock the doorway that led inside the small structure. Thankfully all the sound checks had already happened so when she went into a short but energetic welcome spiel for the benefit of the visitors, Sasha had time to cautiously look around for Levi - she'd already caught Eren looking around. Poor guy looked like a lost puppy, so Hanji couldn't have told him much about what was about to happen to him.

"So, guys and girls... I'm betting we have a few regulars here today!" There was a small chorus of agreement from the sizeable crowd of visitors, a lot of children wiggling to the front to see what was going on as their parents started to point out Eren. "As you can see, someone has been brave enough to venture a little closer... but I wonder how he's going to be welcomed? Let's say hi. Give us a wave, Eren!" Hanji paused to wave in his direction, beaming widely as some of the crowd said hello too.

It was at that point Sasha spotted Levi and smirked, the distinctive shark-like tail of his catching the light where he was perched on some rocks watching. Passive enough to fake his normal disdain and far enough away to be a safe distance, for the moment, that gave her leeway to get on with their master plan for now. Once Eren was in the water, though, all bets were probably off.

Eren gave a sheepish wave when Hanji called him out, and he couldn't help but blush as the noise in the crowd grew louder when they spotted him. His skin tingled from all of the eyes watching him, making him wish he could already submerge himself to get it over with. Something about being in the water made it easier for him to ignore other people.

"Go get em, dude!" Connie's scream among the other ruckus startled him into action and he climbed onto the rocks so that if Hanji wanted him to jump, it would be in deeper water. He hissed when he scratched his palm on a sharp edge, frowning at the little pearl of blood before wiping it away on a black part of his swim trunks and continuing his trek. Eren would rather die than let something so insignificant stop him from making his debut. Hanji's commentary was a constant hum, and he smiled smiled when he caught Sasha's gaze, hoping she could help speed things along. He was anxious to get in the water.

Catching the look from Hanji, Sasha was the first one to get closer to Eren and probably the only one of them who would actually end up touching him, the other performers varying degrees of closeby as they watched the singular 'human' in their space with open curiosity.

"Ooh, it looks like Eren has attracted some attention." Hanji announced, winding the cable attached to the mic in her hand around her fingers a few times as she watched Petra join Sasha in getting almost within arm's reach of Eren's perch on the rocks, waving to him and making come hither motions that were exaggerated a little so that they were big enough for their audience to see. He was far enough out that if he jumped the arm's-length distance into the water it was more than deep enough for him to be safe. "Do you think he should get in? Mermaids are harmless, right?"

There seemed to be an even split as several children chimed in with 'yes' or 'no' - evidently some knew their mythology better than others. "Well, I think it's up to Eren..."

Eren didn't have to fake the awe that took over his facial expressions. His coworkers looked stunning, the sun twinkling off their accessories and the glitter buffed into their makeup. When they started motioning for him to get into the water, he stood up and looked at the crowd to gauge their reaction. Most of the little kids seemed to respond to Hanji's question that mermaids were indeed harmless, and the parents' look of curiosity was blatant. 

Acting as if he was in a trance, he looked back down and the two girls and grinned, reaching down and bracing himself for when they pulled him into the water. Sasha took the hit and immediately pulled him in.

It took very little time for Sasha and Petra to show their more sinister 'true colours' given that almost as soon as Eren hit the water, most of other performers picked that moment to join in, getting closer to cut off any chance of Eren getting back to the rocks 'safely'. Led out closer to the edges of the tank so that anyone watching from the under-surface viewing area could see that it was pretty much only their support that was keeping Eren about the water, for the moment happy to laugh with him until Hanji joined in again.

"Oooh, he fell for it. He trusted the mermaids and now they've trapped him with their siren magic. Looks like it's curtains for Eren, kids!" Hanji announced, cackling gleefully as she heard some of the children watching shouting for Eren to watch out as Annie came up behind him, giving him a whispered word of warning before shoving him under the surface. "Now they're going to do what all sirens do - drown him. Maybe? Perhaps they'll let him go..."

It certainly didn't look like it, as neither Petra nor Sasha showed any signs of being prepared to let him go, moving with a quick swish of their tails to pull him further under the water. He might be good at holding his breath but eventually he'd have to breathe out, any sense of clarity to Hanji's running commentary lost and quietened under the water.

Rapidly, their audience went from concerned to very vocally demanding that they let Eren go and Hanji chose that moment to turn noticeably in Levi's direction and give him a small wave that was easily disguised as another swish of the cabling in her hands to get it out from under her feet as she paced. Slipping off the rocks, Levi started to swim closer and Hanji made a show of running over to the edge of the tower to point him out. "Oh, look, another one! Maybe he's come to drown Eren too?"

The others might be used to acting, but for Levi this looked all too real. He knew what it looked like when real merfolk ate humans and coincidentally it was very much like what he could see playing out not far away through the water. It didn't help that he could sense blood in the water somehow but the quiet draw of bloodlust was being rapidly squashed under a determination to get at Eren. He knew it was all play-acting to an extent but that didn't stop the more primal side of him baying for blood at the sight of their various hands on his arms and shoulders, Sasha curled close around him watching with a taunting look as Levi got closer as if to stake a claim on him of her own. Eren was his, though. His to mentor and his to save, and how dare they lay a hand on him?

It wasn't that the scene was upsetting, but since Eren's admission, since the kiss and how upset Eren had been that night before he ran off, Levi couldn't get the brunet out of his head. All musing over the significance of 'crushes' to humans aside he wasn't in the practice of lying to himself and Eren was becoming important to him faster than anyone else he'd ever met. So seeing Eren trapped under the water was making him decidedly... uncomfortable. The speed at which he closed in on them was tightly controlled but the three people using their weight to keep Eren under the water all turned to give him their full, wary attention, take in his icy demeanour and the look of purpose on his face and that was it. They scattered as Levi reached Eren, making back for the rocks with staged panic, making Levi's status as someone to be feared obvious.

"Well well, this is the first time Levi has taken interest in a human himself.." Hanji told the crowd, smirking at how unironically true her words were. "But will he save him?" The words drew a clamour of 'yes'-es from the watching children, somewhat dimmed under the water but enough to make Levi tear his searching gaze away from Eren's face for all of ten seconds.

He'd been under the water for quite some time by the time the other performers let him go and he saw Levi approach. Even though he know none of them would harm him, the fact that he was forced to struggle, however much it was fake, left him more tired and out of breath than he should have been. When his mentor got close enough that the brunet could see his face clearly, he closed his eyes in relief and weakly reached out, hoping to hold on to the other man for stability. This whole scene wasn't real, but on the chance that he couldn't continue acting, he knew that Levi would put his safety over the performance. When he felt Levi's smooth skin, he scratched at him, trying to grab ahold.

Eren had been under the water for too long for it to be doing him any good now, but he could see the other performers getting closer again, varying degrees of curiosity showing as Levi pulled Eren closer. The discomfort eating at him somewhat smoothed away seeing that Eren was otherwise alright and unmarked, he hesitated for a bare few seconds, having to concentrate for what was about to happen.

The others encroaching on their space were all knocked back by sudden currents where by rights none should exist at all, Levi allowing himself one last moment to mentally chastise Hanji for pushing him into facing up to these emotions before he gently cushioned Eren's face with a hand, his world seeming to tilt on its axis just a little as their lips met. A sharp tingling sensation arched up Levi's spine as the magic he was using to power Hanji's special effects started taking over, bubbles swirling rapidly around the pair as Levi was able to summon Eren's tail straight onto him without him actually having to put it on manually, a small glamour making him appear just as much of a real mer as Levi was himself right down to the slight webbing on his fingers, slitted pupils and slightly pointed ears.

And the breathing underwater. That would be a thing, too. He couldn't avoid that - he'd kissed Eren, and any lore buff could tell you that a mermaid's kiss could allow humans to breathe underwater for a limited time. If he could have concentrated on anything but the soft brush of Eren's mouth against his he'd have worried about the fact he was giving his secret away after spending so many days maintaining it, but right now he just didn't care. Kissing Eren was taking priority over everything else.

Eren's hands wrapped around Levi as the man drew in closer to him, but to be honest, he wasn't expecting his mentor to get so close. They had been in similar positions in the water before, although Eren had been at his back instead, and the brush of their lips touching forced Eren to open his eyes in shock. 

All of the pain of holding in air was immediately replaced with a warmth in his chest, and he pulled Levi in to deepen the kiss when he realized that Levi had agreed to do this on his own. His heart fluttered in his chest, and without the pressure in his lungs screaming for air, he was able to forget about the people watching them. That was, until the brunet’s hand brushed up against Levi’s tail when he tried to get the man even closer.

Eren pulled back, thinking that maybe he had gone too far if this was all just for the performance, and he let out little squeak of air when he realized what was happening around them. Sasha really wasn't kidding about the special effects. Levi was looking at him, and he blushed, embarrassment bringing goosebumps to his exposed skin. 

Levi certainly hadn't been expecting Eren to slide a little closer and deepen the kiss but he certainly wasn't going to complain, shuddering at the pleasant warmth of the feeling. Eren looked uncannily beautiful and he couldn't help the forlorn wish that the brunet hadn't been born human at all, just for that moment. Eventually the glamour would fade but for now he could appreciate the sight.

A small smile crossed his face at the small stream of bubbles that escaped Eren as he squeaked and blushed, not able to help it. Eren was adorable and it was a good job he didn't actually know that. Looking past Eren as the cocoon of bubbles around them swirled away he swam over to the glass panelling, able to see through at the small audience pressed against the glass watching them and waving happily to Eren now he was 'safe'. Offering the children a small moment of attention - mostly because he refused to give in and actually wave at them, Hanji wasn't getting him to go that far - he turned and then headed back towards the rocks. The people on the surface needed to see what had happened to Eren too.

When Levi left Eren to go look at the crown, the brunet was stuck staring after him in confusion. He didn't noticed the children waving at him or the stares of their parents, instead caught up in his own world replaying Levi's kiss over and over in his head. Going above the water to get air no longer seemed as important as it previously did, and the urge to chase down Levi and pull him away from the crowd was overwhelming. He frowned at the newfound possessiveness and shook his head to will the feelings away. He felt a little drugged for some reason but brushed it off as shock from being kissed, and after a minute when Levi didn't come back to get him, he finally noticed that in the midst of all of the chaos, Levi had slipped on his tail without him knowing. Eren shook his head under the water in disbelief.

When this was all over he had some questions that needed to be answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are working on the next chapter now: v-day isn't quite over yet, but it's no longer the main event. Levi let his secret out, though. I wonder if Eren caught on?
> 
> As Always, comments feed the writers and we hope you enjoyed it!


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